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THE

YOUNG MAN'S .GUIDE

BY WILLIAM A. ALCOTT.

V

l^ebfselr antr Hnlarge^.

TWENTIETH EDITION.

BOSTON :

PUBLISHED BY T. R. MARVIN.

1 849.

lU^i- II i9

^- . ^, ^A_^

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1844,

By T. R. MARVIN,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of

Massachusetts.

ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE SIXTEENTH EDITION.

It is now nearly twelve years since this work
was prepared for the press, during which period
it has passed through fifteen editions, some of
them very large. Besides this, it has been the
occasion of many other books for young men,
— some of them bearing almost the very same
title, — whose sales have also been extensive.

But as the original, or parent work, is still
preferred by many to the later, and, in some
instances, doubtful productions of those who
prefer to live on the labors of others rather
than to originate for themselves, it has been
thought expedient by the Author to revise it, and
especially to add a few thoughts on the nature
and character of Friendship. The greatest
change is made in the last chapter.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE

The leading purpose of the Young Man's
Guide, as the public must be already aware, is to
aid in forming the character of young men for
time and for eternity. Though not a religious
work, in the proper sense of the terra, its end is
to make the young better, no less than wiser. In
this view, the Author has entered largely into a
discussion of the means of improving the mind,
the manners, and the morals, as well as of the
proper management of business. Something
is also said of amusements, and incidentally of
bad habits, personal and social. One of the
closing chapters was the pioneer of a new field
of popular inculcation : how useful it may have
been, the public must judge for themselves.

On the subject of marriage, the Author has
been more full, as well as more earnest, than
elsewhere. The importance of this institution
to every young man, the means of rendering it
what the great Creator originally intended it
should be, together with those occasional evils
that follow — - some of them in terrible retribu-
tion— those vices which tend to oppose or

SIXTEENTH EDITION. 5

thwart his benevolent purposes, are faithfully,
and it is hoped correctly, presented.

The Publisher has appended to the present
edition the Constitution of the United States —
a document which should be thoroughly studied
and understood by all young men who would
become the intelliorent and useful citizens of
a free country.

The work which was partially announced in
the first preface to this volume, designed as a
sequel to it, for more advanced readers, — is
still kept in view. The Boy's Guide, so long
ago promised as an introduction to the present
work, is just published.

That the Young Man's Guide may continue
to prove useful to the class of persons for whom
it is especially prepared, and for whose im-
provement the Author has labored nearly half a
century, is his most earnest prayer concern-
ing it.

October, 1844.

CONTEJNTS.

Introduction. Mistakes in regard to the disposition
and management of the young. 19 — 26

CHAPTER I. — Importance of aiming high in the
Formation of Character.

Section I. Importance of having a high standard of
action. — The young should determine to rise. We
may usually become what we desire to be. An anec-
dote. Studying the lives of eminent and useful men.

27—30

Section II. Motives to action. — A regard to our
own happiness. To family and friends. To society.
To country. To the will of God. The love of God,
the highest motive. 31 — 38

Section III. Industry. — No person has a right to
live without labor. Determine to labor as long as you
live. Mistaken method of teaching industry. Labor
in the open air. Manual labor schools. 38 — 43

8 CONTENTS.

Section IV. Economy. — False and true; Exam-
ples of the false. Time is money. Sixty minutes
shown to be an hour. Economical habits. 1. Do every
thing at the time. Anecdote. 2. Every thing should
have its place. Examples. 43 — 47

Section V. Indolence. — The indolent only half
human. Characteristics of an indolent man. • His
epitaph. 47 — 49

Section VI. Early Rising and rest, — He who
would rise early, must retire early. Morning air.
Advantages of early rising. 1. Things go better
through the day. 2. Morning hours more agreeable.

3. Danger of the second nap. 4. Early risers long-
lived. 5. One hour's sleep before midnight worth two
after. 6. Saving of time and money. Estimates. Ex-
amples of early rising. 49 — 55

Section VII. Duty to Parents. — Reasons. 1. For
the sake of our own reputation. 2. From love to our
parents. 3. Better to suffer wrong, than to do wrong.

4. Nothing gained by going away. Franklin an excep-
tion to the general rule. No sight more beautiful than
a well ordered and happy family. Obedience the great
lesson of life. 56 — 59

Section VIII. Faithfulness. — Our duty to oar
employers. Common error of the young. Examples.
The Mahratta prince. 59—61

Section IX. On Forming Temperate Habits. —
Drunkenness and gluttony. Indulgence short of these.

CONTENTS. 9

Indulgences very expensive. Spending time at meals.
Water drinkers the best guests. Temperate habits
tend to healtii. Ecclesiasticus. Examples of rational
living. Tea, coffee, soups, and all warm drinks in-
jurious. General rules. 62 — 70

Section X. Suppers. — Customs of our ancestors;
and of the Jews. Advantages gained by avoiding
suppers. Eating-houses. 70 — 73

Section XL Dress. — Its uses. Neither be first
nor last in a fashion. Fondness for dress. Women
not often misled by dress. 73 — 75

Section XII. Bashfulness and Modesty. — We may
be both bashful and impudent. Bashfulness injurious.
Set up for just what we are, and no more. 76 — 78

Section XIII. Politeness and Good Breeding. —
Not to be despised. In what good breeding consists.
How acquired. Ten plain rules. 78 — 82

Section XIV. Personal Habits. — Business of the
day planned in the morning. Dressing, shaving, &c.
Shaving with cold water. Anecdote. 82 — 88

Section XV. Bathing and Cleanliness. — Connec-
tion of Cleanliness with Moral Purity. Neglect of
this subject. 88—89

Section XVI. Little Things. — Not to be disre-
garded. Zimmerman. The world made up of little
things. 89—9?

10 CONTENTS.

Section XVII. Anger, and the means of restrain-
ing it. Avoid the first steps. An error in education.
Opinion of Dr. Darwin. The Quaker and the Mer-
chant. Zimmerman's metliod of overcoming anger.
Unreasonableness of returning evil for evil. 93 — 99

CHAPTER II. — On the Management of Business.

Section I. Commencing Business. — Avoid debt-
Do not begin too early. Facts stated. Why young
men do not take warning. Students of Medicine and
Divinity. Examples for imitation. 100 — 108

Section II. Importance of Integrity. — Thieves
and robbers respect it. What it is. Many kinds of
dishonesty. 1. Concealing the market price. 2. Mis-
representing it. 3. Selling unsound or defective
goods, and calling them sound and perfect. Quack med-
icines. 4. Concealing defects. 5. Lowering the value
of things we wish to buy. 6. Use of false weights and
measures. Other kinds of dishonesty. 108 — 115

Section III. Method. — Memorandum book ; its
uses.' Rules for doing much business in little time..

116—117

Section IV. Application to Business. — Every per-
son ought to have one principal object of pursuit, and
steadily pursue it. Perseverance of a shopkeepei.
All useful employments respectable. Character of a
dr(me. 117—120

Section V. Proper Time and Season of doing Bu-

CONTENTS. 11

smess. — When to deal with the gloomy; the intem-
perate ; those unhappy in domestic life ; men involved
in public concerns. 120 — 122

Section VI. Baying upon Trust. — Live within
our income. Calculate. Buy nothing but what you
need. Estimates and examples to show the folly of
credit. Not intended as lessons of stinginess.

1^—127

Section VII. We should endeavor to do our busi-
ness oorselves. Four reasons. Trusting dependants.
We can do many little things without hindrance.

127—130

Section VIII. Over Trading. — A species o^ fraud.
Arises from a desire to get rich rapidly. Wickedness
of monopolies. 130 — 131

Section IX. Making contracts beforehjmd. Al-
ways make bargains beforehand. Three reasons. If
possible, reduce every thing to writing. 131 — 132

Section X. How to know with whom to deal. —
Two rules. How to detect a knave. All men by na-
ture, avaricious. Avoid those who boast of good bar-
gains. Avoid sanguine promisers. 133 — 135

Section XI. How to take Men as they are. — How
to regard a miser ; a passionate man ; a slow man ; the
covetous ; those ruled by their wives ; the boasting ;
the mild tempered ; the bully. Six sorts of people from
whom you are not to expect much aid or sympathy in

12 CONTENTS.

life : the sordid, the lazy, the busy, the rich, those mis-
erable from poverty, and the silly. 136 — 140

Section XII. Of desiring the good opinion of oth
ers. — Those not far from ruin who do n't care. — The
other extreme to be avoided. 140 — 141

Section XIII. Intermeddling with the affairs of
others. — Matchmakers. Talking sides in quarrels. Ish-
maelites. 142—143

Section XIV. On keeping Secrets. — Who may
safely be trusted. Anecdotes. 143 — 145

Section XV. Fear of Poverty. — Little real pover-
ty in this country. Shame of being thought poor leads
to worse evils than poverty itself. Fear of poverty
often a cause of suicide. 145 — 150

Section XVI. Speculation. — The habit early form-
ed. It is a species of gaming. Its sources.

• 150—152

Section XVII. Lawsuits. — Avoid the law. Liti-
giousness, a disease. Consider what is gained by it.
Examples of loss. Subdue the passions which lead to
it. Lawsuits unnecessary. 152 — 156

Section XVIII. Hard dealing. — Its unchristian
natnre. Two prices. Habits of the Mohammedans.

156—157

CONTENTS. 13

CHAPTER III. — Ok Amusements and Indulgences.

Section I. On Gaming. — Every gambler a robber.
The first player. Gaming produces nothing. Cor-
rupts manners. Discourages industry. Opinions of
Locke and others. What tremendous evils it leads
to. France, England. Different sorts of gaming.

1. Cards, dice, and billiards. 2. Shooting matches.
These brutal practices still sometimes tolerated. 3.
Horse racing and cock figluing . A recent bull fight.

15S— 171

Section II. On Lotteries. — Lotteries the zror5< spe-
cies of Gaming. They are a species of swindling.
Estimates to show their folly. Appeal to the reader.

171—176

Section III. The Theatre. — A school of vice.
Injurious to health. Diseases produced by it. Its
danger to morals. Opinions and facts from Griscom,
Rousseau, Hawkins, Tillotson, Collier, Hale, Burgh,
and Plato. Anecdote. Antiquity of theatres. No
safety but in total abstinence. 176 — 183

Section IV. Use of Tobacco. — 1. Smoking. Pic-
ture of its evils in Germany. Tobacco consumed
in the United States. When it was introduced. None
recommend it to their children. A most powerful
poison. Savages fond of it, in proportion to their de-
gradation. No poisonous plant, so much used, except
the betel of India. How smoking can be abolished.

2. Chewing. Apologies for the practice. Tobacco
does not preserve teeth. 3. Taking snuff. Disgust
and danger of this habit. 183 — 191

2

14 CONTENTS.

Section V. Useful Recreations. — Recreations in
the open air. Playing ball ; quoils ; nine pins, &c.
Skating. Dancing. Its uses and dangers. Reading
sometimes a recreation. Sports of the field considered.

191—194

CHAPTER IV. — Improvement of the Mind.

Section I. Habits of Observation. — We should
keep our ' eyes open.' Anecdote from Dr. D wight.
Avoid pedantry. Anecdote of a surgeon; — of the
elder and younger Pliny. 195 — 199

Section II. Rules for Conversation. — Rules of pro-
fiting from it. Hear others. Do not interrupt them.
Avoid those who use vulgar or profane language.
Speak late yourself. Avoid great earnestness. Never
be overbearing. 199 — 202

Section III. On Books and Study. — How to over-
come a dislike to them. Lyceums, Travels, Histories,
Newspapers. A common mistake. Education only
the key to knowledge. Men have commenced ■ stu-
dents at 40. Franklin always a learner. We can
find time for study. Practical Studies. 1. Geography.
How to study it. Its importance. 2. History. How
pursued. 3. Arithmetic. Practical arithmeticians.
The mere use of the pen and pencil do not give
a knowledge of this branch. 4. Chemistry, and other
Natural Sciences. Usefulness of Chemistry. 5. Gram-
mar and Composition. One method of obtaining
a practical knowledge of these branches. 6. Letter

CONTENTS. 15

toriting. 7. Voyages, travels, and biography. 8. JYov-
els. Not recommended, especially to those who have
little leisure. 9. Xeicspapers. Newspapers, though
productive of much evil, on the whole useful. Five
rules to assist the reader in making a judicious selec-
tion. Politics. History and constitution of our coun-
try studied. 10. Keeping a Journal. Examples.
Other ways of improving the mind. Blank book,
with pencil in our pockets. 11. Prcserration of Books
and Papers. Books should be covered ; kept clean ;
used with dry hands. Turning down leaves. Using
books for pillows, props to windows, seats, «fec.

20a— 229
CHAPTER V. — Social and Moral Improvement.

Section I. Female Society, in general. — Both sexes
should be educated together. What we are to think
of those who despise female society. How it polislies
and improves us. 230 — 234

Section W. Advice and Friendship of Mothers.

234—235

Section HI. Society of Sisters — Attentions due
them. Their benefit. 236—237

Section IV. General Remarks and Advice. — Too
great intimacy. Avoid trifling. Beware of idolatry.

238—241

Section V. Lyceums and other Social Meetings. —

16 CONTENTS.

Value of Lyceums, and courses of lectures. How they
might be improved. Their cheapness. 241 — 243

Section VI. Moral Instruction. — Sabbath Schools
and Bible Classes. Value of the latter. 243 — 244

Section VII. Of Female Society in reference to
Marriage. — Every youth should keep matrimony in
view. Peirticular advice. The wish to marry, pru-
dently indulged, will have a great influence on our
character. Error of a pedagogue. 244 — 250

CHAPTER VI. — Marriage.

Section I. Why Matrimony is a duty. — Importance
of the subject. Considered as a school. Early mar-
riage. Objections. Seven great evils from late mar-
riages. 251 — 258

Section II. General Considerations. — Husbands and
wives gradually resemble each other. Considerations
for those who embark in matrimony. 258 — ^262

Section III. Female Qualifications for Matrimony
— 1. Moral Excellence. 2. Common Sense. 3. DesirA
far improvement. 4. Fondness for children. Mise-
rable condition of a husband or wife, where this is
wanting 5. Love of domestic concerns. Evils of
ignorance on this point. Fashionable education in
fault. 6. Sobriety. Definition of the term. An anec-
dote. Love of mental and bodily excitement usually
connected. 7. Industry. How to judge whether a

CONTENTS. 17

person is industrious. 8. Early rising. A mark of
industry. Late rising difficult of cure. 9. FrvgaUty.
Its importance shown. 10. Personal Keatness. Its
comforts. 11. Ji good temper. Its imnortance illus-
trated. 12. Accomplishments. 263—305

CHAPTER VII. —Criminal Behavior.

Section I. Inconstancy and Seduction. — Constancy.
Its importance illustrated by an example. Cruelty of
sporting with the affections of a female. Opinion of
Burgh. 306—313

Section II. Licentiousness. — Most common in
cities. New Orleans. Hint to legislators. A horrid
picture. Not wholly imaginary. Avoid the first erring
step. Example of premature decrepitude. Anecdote
of C. S. Solitary vice. This vice compared with
intemp>e ranee. A set of wretches exposed. Apologies
sometimes made. Nature of the evils this error pro-
duces. The law of God. Medical testimony. Entire
celibacy, or purity, not unfavorable to health. Youth
ought to consider this, and study the human frame.
Causes of the error in question. 1. False delicacy.
Our half Mohammedan education. 2. Books, Pic-
tures, &c. Great extent of this evil. Opinion of Dr.
Dwight. 3. Obscene and improper songs. Anecdote
of a schoolmaster. 4. Double entendres. Parental
errors- Evening Parties. 314 — 337

2*

18 CONTENTS.

Section III. Diseases of Licentiousness. Nine or ten
of them enumerated. The ninth described. Four examples
of suffering. When the young ought to tremble. Happi-
ness of having never erred. What books may be safely and
usefully consulted. Extract from Rees' Cyclopedia. Other
forms of disease. Of excess. All degrees of vice are exces-
sive. Duties of Parents as guides to the young. Obliga-
tions of Medical men. Concluding Remarks. 337 — 364

CHAPTER Vni. — Miscellaneous Thoughts ov
SEVERAL Important Topics.

Section I. Choice of Friends. Importance of a few
female friends. Caution necessary in making a choice.
Story of Lucius — his mistake. Reflections. Character of
friends. Select a small number only. 355 — 357

Section II. Nature of True Friendship. What it does
not consist in. What it does consist in. Christ the model.
Friendship of parents, brothers, and sisters. Blessings of
true friendship. The condition of young men illustrated.
Ends of matrimonial friendship. 358 — 366

Section III. Rudeness of manners. Wearing hats in the
house — its tendency. Practical questions. Manners in
families. 367—369

Section IV. Self-praise Egotism. We should say little
about ourselves. 369

Section V. Self-esteem. A just estimate of ourselves
proper. Aid in forming a just estimate. Avoid extremes.
Meanness the result of human folly. Errors in the estimate
vre make of ourselves. The most fatal error of all — and
how it originates. Hints at the true method of forming a
correct estimate. 370 — 376

APPENDIX.
CoMSTiTUTiow OF THE Ukitkd States. 377—892

INTRODUCTION.

The young are often accused of being thought-
less, rash, and unwilling to be advised.

That the former of these charges is in a great
measure just, is not denied. Indeed, what else
could be expected ? They are thoughtless, for they
are yet almost strangers to the world, and its cares
and perplexities. They are forward, and some-
times rash; but this generally arises from that
buoyancy of spirits, which health and vigor im-
part. True, it is to be corrected, let the cause be
what it may; but we shall correct with more
caution, and probably with greater success, when
we understand its origin.

That youth are unwilling to be advised, as a gen-
eral rule, appears to me untrue. At least I have not
found it so. When the feeling does exist, I believe
it often arises from parental mismanagement, or
from an unfortunate method of advisinj;.

20 INTRODUCTION.

The infant seeks to grasp the burning lamp; —
the parent endeavors to dissuade him from it. At
length he grasps it, and suffers the consequences.
Finally, however, if the parent manages him pro-
perly, he learns to follow his advice, and obej' his
indications, in order to avoid pain. Such, at least,
is the natural result of raizowaZ management. And
the habit of seeking parental counsel, once formed,
is not easily eradicated. It is true that temptation
and forgetfulness may lead some of the young
occasionally to grasp the lamp, even after they are
told better; but the consequent suffering generally
restores them to their reason. It is only when the
parent neglects or refuses to give advice, and for
a long time manifests little or no sympathy with his
child, that the habit of filial reliance and confidence
is destroyed. In fact there are very few children
indeed, however improperly managed, who do not
in early life acquire a degree of this confiding,
inquiring, counsel-seeking disposition..

Most persons, as they grow old, forget that they
have ever been young themselves. This greatly
disqualifies them for social enjoyment. It was
wisely said; ' He who would pass the latter part of
his life with honor and decency, must, when he is
young, consider that he shall one day be old, and
when he is old, remember that he has once been
young.' But if forgetfulness on this point disqual-
ifies a person for se//" enjoyment, how much more
for that which is social.''

INTRODUCTION. SI

Still more does it disqualify us for giving advice.
While a lad, I was at play, one day, with my mates,
when two gentlemen observing us, one of them
said to the other; ' Do you think you ever acted as
foolishly as those boys do r' ' Why yes; I suppose
I did; ' was the reply. ' Well.' said the other, '/
never did; — I know I never did.'

Both of these persons has the name of parent,
but he who could not believe he had ever acted like
a child himself, is greatly destitute of the proper
parental spirit. He never — or scarcely ever — puts
himself to the slightest inconvenience to pr»)mote,
directly, the happiness of the young, even for half
an hour.

He supposes every child ought to be grave, like
himself. If he sees the young engageil in any of
those exercises which are really adapted to their
years, he regards it as an entire loss of time, besides
being foolish and unreasonable. He would have
them at work, or at their studios. Whereas there
is scarcely anything that should give a parent more
pleasure than to see his children, in their earliest
years, enjoying that flow of spirits, which leads
them forth to active, vigorous, blood-stirring sports.

Of all persons living, he who does not remember
that he has once been young, is the most completely
disqualified for giving youthful counsel. He ob-
trudes his advice occasionally, when the youth is*

22 INTRODUCTION,

already under temptation, and borne along with
the force of a vicious current; but because he dis-
regards it, he gives him up as heedless, perhaps as
obstinate. If advice is afterwards asked, his man-
ners are cold and repulsive. Or perhaps he frowns
him away, telling him he never follows his advice,
and therefore it is useless to give it. So common
is it to treat the young with a measure of this spe-
cies of roughness, that I cannot wonder the maxim
has obtained that the young, generally, ' despise
counsel.' And yet, I am fully convinced, no max-
im is farther from the truth.

When we come to the very close of life, we can-
not transfer, in a single moment, that knowledge
of the world and of human nature which an expe-
rience of 70 years has afforded us. If, therefore,
from any cause whatever, we have not already
dealt it out to those around us, it is likely to be lost;
— and lost for ever. Now is it not a pity that what
the young would regard as an invaluable treasure,
could they come at it in such a manner, and at
such seasons, as would be agreeable to them, and
that, too, which the old are naturally so fond of
distributing, should be buried with their bodies .-^

Let me counsel the young, then, to do every
thing they can, consistently with the rules of good
breeding, to draw forth from the old the treasures
of which I have been speaking. Let them even
make some sacrifice of that buoyant feeling which,

INTROUUCTIOX. 23

at their a^e, is so apt to predominate. Let them
contbrin, tor the time, in some measure, to the
gravity of the aged, in order to gain their favor,
and secure their friendship and confidence. I do
not ask them wholly to forsake society, or their
youthful pastimes for this purpose, or to become
grave habitually; for this would be requiring too
much. But there are moments when old people,
iiowever disgusted they may be with the young, do
so far unbend themselves as to enter into cheerful
and instructive conversation. I can truly say that
when a boy , some of my happiest hours were spent
in the society of the aged — those too, who were
Jiot always what they should have been. The old
live in the past, as truly as the young do in the
future. Nothing more delights them than to relate
stories of *olden tifne,' especially when themselves
were the heroes. But they will not relate them,
unless there is somebody to hear. Let the young
avail themselves of this propensity, and make the
most of it. Some may have been heroes in war;
some in travelling the country; others in hunting,
fishin?, agriculture or the mechanic arts; and it
may be that here and there one will boast of his
skill, and relate stories of his success in that noblest
of arts and employments — the making of his fel-
low creatures ^vise, and good, and happy.

In conversation with all these persons, you will
doubtless hear rnuch that is uninteresting. But

24 INTRODUCTION.

where will you find anything pure or perfect below
the sun? The richest ores contain dross. At the
same time you cannot fail, unless the fault is your
own, to learn many valuable things from them all
From war stories, you will learn history; from
accounts of travels, geography, human character,
manners and customs; and from stories of the good
or ill treatment which may have been experienced,
you will learn how to secure the one, and avoid
the other. From one person you will learn one
thing; from another something else. Put these
shreds together, and in time you will form quite
a number of pages in the great book of human
nature. You may thus, in a certain sense, live
several lives in one.

One thing more is to be remembered. The
more you have, the more you are bound to give.
Common sense, as well as the Scripture, says, ' It
is more blessed to give than to receive.' Remem-
ber that as you advance in years you are bound to
avoid falling into the very errors which, ' out of
your own mouth' you have ' condemned ' in those
who have gone before you; and to make your-
selves as acceptable as you can to the young, in
order to secure their confidence, and impart to
them, little by little, those accumulated treasures
of experience which you have acquired in going
through life, but which must otherwise, to a very
great extent, be buried with you in your graves.

IiVTRODDCTION. 25

But, ray young frieuds, there is oue method be-
eides conversation, in which you may come at the
wisdom of the aged ; and that is through the me-
dium of books. Many old persons have written
well, and you cannot do better than to avail your-
selves of their instructions. This method has even
one advantage over convei-sation. In the perusal
of a book, you are not so often' prejudiced or disgust-
ed by tlie repulsive and perhaps chilling manner
of him who wrote it, as you might have been from
his conversation and company.

I cannot but indulge the hope that you will find
some valuable information and useful advice in this
little book. It has cost me much labor to embody,
in so small a compass, the results of my own expe-
rience on such a variety of subjects, and to arrange
my thoughts in such a manner as seemed to me
most likely to arrest and secure your attention.
The work, however, is not wholly the result of my
own experience, for I have derived many valuable
thoughts from other wTiters.

An introductory chapter or preface is usually
rather dry, but if this should prove sufBciently
interesting to deserve your attention till you have
read it, and the table of contents, thoroughly, I have
strong hopes that you will read the rest of the book.
And in accordance with my own principles. I be-
lieve you will tr}- to follow my advice ; for I take it

26 INTRODUCTION.

for granted that none will purchase and read this
work but such as are Avilling to be advised. I
repeat it, therefore — I go upon the presumption
that my advice will, in the main, be followed.
Not at every moment of your lives, it is true ; for
you will be exposed on all sides to temptation, and,
i fear, sometimes fall. But when you come to re-
view the chapter (for I hope I have written notning
but what is worth a second reading) which contains
directions on that particular subject wherem you
have failed, and find, too, how much you have
suffered by neglecting counsel, and rashly seizing
the lamp, I am persuaded you will not soon fall
again in that particular direction.

In this view, I submit these pages to the youth
of our American States. If the work should not
please them, I shall be so far from attributing it to
any fault or perversity of theirs, that I shall at once
conclude 1 have not taken a wise and proper
method of presenting my instructions.

THE YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

CHAPTER 1.
^n tj)e iformation ot Cparactet.

Section 1. Importance of aiming higk, in the for-
mation of character.

To those who have carefully examined the intro-
duction and table of contents, I am now prepared
to give thf fi)llowinp g^'nrnU (lircriion ; Fix upon a
high standard of character. To be thought well of,
is not sufficient The point you are to aim at, is,
tlie greatest possible degree of usefulness.

Some may think there is danger of setting too
high a standard of action. I have heard teachers
contend that a child will learn tu write much faster
by having an inferior copy, than by imitating one
which is comparatively perfect ; ' because,' Siiy they,
*a pupil is liable to be dif^couraged if you give him
a perfect copy ; but if it is only a little in adviuice
of his own, he will take courage from the belief
that he shall soon be able to equal it.' l am fully

28 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

A perfect copy. Aim high. Some have no leading object.

convinced, however, tliat this is not so. The more
perfect the copy you place before the child, pro-
vided it be ivritten, and not engraved, the better.
For it nnist alwa}s be possible in tlie nature of
things, for the ciiiKl to imitate it ; and what is not
absolutely impossible, every child may reasonably
be expected to aspire after, on tbe principle, that
whatever man has done^ man may do.

So in human conduct, generally ; whatever is
possible should be aimed at Did my limits permit,
1 might show that it is a })art of the divine economy
to place before his rational creatures a perfect stand-
ard of action, and to make it tlieir duty to come up
to it

He who only aims at little, will accomplish but
little. Expect great things, and aitempi great things.
A neglect of this rule produces more of the diffe-
rence in the character, conduct, and success of men,
than is commonly supposed. Some start in life
without any leading object at all ; some with a low
one; and some aim high: — and just in proportion
to the elevation at which they aim, will be their
progress and success. It is an old proverb that he
who ainiS at the sun, will not reach it, to be sure;
but his arrow will fly higher than if he aims at an
object on a level with himself. Exactly so is it, in
the formation of character, except in -one point To
reach the sun with an arrow is an impossibility, but a
youtli may aim high without attempting impossi-
bilities.

05 HAVI5e ▲ HIGH AIM. 29

▼e to br ujcful. Eminent models Anecdote.

Let me rejx?at tlie assurance tliat, as a general
nile, you may be tchatevir you will resolve to be. De-
termine lliat you will be useful in llie world, and
you shall be. Young nien seem to me uturly un-
conscious of what they are ca|)able of being and
doing. Their eflbrts are often few and feeble, be-
cause they are not awake to a full conviction tliat
any thing great or distinguii^hc-d ir* in their [>ower.

But whence came an Aloxamler, a Ctesar, a
CharU^s XII, or a Najwleon ? Or whence tlie bet-
ter ordrr of Ppirils, — a Pnul, an Alfn-d, a Luther, a
Howard, a Penn, a Wasiiington ? Wen* not tliose
men once like yourselves? What but w'lf exertion,
aided by tiie bleflsing of Heaven, rendered tliese
men so cons|»icuou8 ff>r us»'fu!rit*ss? Rely Jipon it,
— what tlicse men once if rrc, you may be. Or at
the least, you may make a nearer approach to tliem,
than you are ready to l)eliev(>. Resolution is almost
onmipotenL Tlioee little words trif, nnd ^gnn, arc
eometiinee great in tlieir rosulti*, * I can't,' never ac-
complished any thing; — ' I will try,' has achieved
wonders.

This position might l»e prove«l and illustrated
by innumerable farts; but one must suffice.

A young man who had wasted his patrimony by
profligacy, whilst slamling, one day, on the brow
of a precipice from which he had detennined to
throw himself, formed the sudden resolution to re-
gain what he had lost. The puq>o»' thus fonned was
kept; and though he bej^nn bv nhoveiing a load of

30 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Use of Biography. Prospects of a happy age.

coals into a cellar, for which he only received twelve
and a half cents, yet he proceeded from one step to
another tiQ he more than recovered his lost posses-
sions, and died worth sixty thousand pounds sterl-
ing.

You will derive much advantage from a careful
perusal of the lives of eminent individuals, especi-
ally of those who were good as well as great. You
will derive comparatively little benefit from read-
ing the lives of those scourges of their race who
have drenched the earth in blood, except so far as
it tends to show you what an immense blessing
they might have been to the world, had they de-
voted to the work of human improvement those
mighty energies which were employed in human
destruction. Could the physical and intellectual en-
ergy of Napoleon, the order and method of Alfred,
the industiy, frugality, and wisdom of Franklin
and Washington, and the excellence and untiling
perseverance of Paul, and Penn, and" Howard, be
united in each individual of the rising generation,
who can set limits to the good, which they might,
and inevitably would accomplish ! Is it too much
to hope that some happier age will witness the real-
ity ? Is it not even probable that the rising genera
tion may afford many such examples ?

MOTIVES TO ACTION, 31

Pursuit of happiness. Selfishness. Regard to frienda.

Section II. On Motives to action.

Not a few young men either have no fixed prin-
ciples, no governing motive at all, or they are in-
fluenced by those which are low and unworthy. It
is painful to say this, but it is too true. On such,
I would press the importance of the following con-
siderations.

Among the motives to action which I would pre-
sent, the fii-st is a regard to your own happiness. To
this you are by no means indifferent at present.
Nay, the attainment of happiness is your primary
object. You seek it in every desire, word, and ac-
tion. But you sometimes mistake the road that
leads to it, either for the want of a fi^endly hand to
guide you, or because you reflise to be guided. Or
what is most common, you grasp at a smaller good,
which is near, and apparently certain, and in so
doing cut yourselves off from the enjoyment of a
good which is often infinitely gi*eater, though more
remote.

Let me urge, in the second place, a regard for
the family to which you belong. It is true you
can never fully know, unless the bitterness of in-
gratitude should teach you, the extent of the duty
you owe to your relatives ; and especially to your
parents. You cannot know — at least till you are
parents yourselves, — how their hearts are bound
up in yours. But if you do not in some meastire

32 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Regard to society. Duties of the young, as Americans.

know it, till this late period, you are not fit to be
parents.

In tlie third place, it is due to society, particu-
larly to the neighborhood or sphere in which you
move, and to the associations to which you may
belong, that you strive to attain a very great eleva-
tion of character. Here, too, I am well aware
that it is impossible, at your age, to perceive fully,
how much you have it in your power to contribute,
if you will, to the happiness of those around you ;
and here again let me refer you to the advice and
guidance of aged fiiends.

But, fourthly, it is due to the nation and age to
which you belong, that you fix upon a high stand-
ard of character. This work is intended for
American youth. American! did I say? This
word, alone, ought to call forth all your energies,
and if there be a slumbering faculty within yoU;
arouse it to action. Never, since the creation, were
the youth of any age or country so imperiously
called upon to exert themselves, as those whom 1
now address. Never before were there so many
important interests at stake. Never were such
immense results depending upon a generation of
men, as upon that which is now . approaching the
stage of action. These rising millions are destined,
according to all human probability, to form by feir
the greatest nation that ever constituted an entire
community of fi-eemen, since the world began. To
form the character of these millions involves ^

MOTIVES TO ACTION. 33

How much depends on the young. Appeal. Duty to God.

greater amount of responsibilit}', individual and col-
lective, tlian any other work to which humanity
has ever been called. And tlie reasons are, it seems
to me, obvious.

Now it is for you, my young friends, to determine
whether these weiglity responsibilities shall be ful-
filled. It is for you to decide whether this greatest
of free nations shall, at tlie same time, be the best.
And as every nation is made up of individuals, you
are each, in reality, called upon daily, to settle this
question: 'Shall the United States, possessing the
most ample means of instruction within the reach
of nearly all her citizens, the happiest govern-
ment, the healthiest of climates, the greatest abun-
dance of the best and most wholesome nutriment,
with every other possible means for developing all
the powers of human nature, be peopled with the
most vigorous, powerful, and happy race of human
beings which the world has ever known ? '

There is another motive to which I beg leave,
for one moment, to direct your attention. You are
bound to fix on a high standard of action, from the
desire of obeying the will of God. He it is who
has cast your lot in a country which — all things
considered — is the happiest below the sun. He
it is who has given you such a wonderful capacity
for happiness, and instituted the delightful rela-
tions of parent and child, and brother and sister,
and friend and neighbor. I might add. He it is,
too, who has given you the name American, — a

34 THE TOUJVG man's GUIDE.

Objection. Founded on mistake. Explanation.

name which alone furnishes a passport to many
ci\dlized lands, and like a good countenance, or a
becommg dress, prepossesses eveiy body in your
favor.

But what young man is there, I may be asked,
who is not Influenced more or less, by all the mo-
tives which have been enumerated ? Who is there
that does not seek his own happiness ? Who does
not desire to please his parents and other relatives,
his friends and his neighbors ? Who does not wish
to be distinguished for his attachment to country
and to liberty ? Nay, who has not even some regard,
in his conduct, to the "will of God ?

I grant that many young men, probably the most
of those into whose hands this book will be likely
to fall, are influenced, more or less, by all these con-
siderations. All pursue their own happiness, no
doubt. By far the majority of the young have,
also, a general respect for the good opinion of
others, and the laws of the Creator.

Still, do not thousands and tens of thousands mis-
take, as I have already intimated, m regard to what
really promotes their o^vn happiness ? Is there any
certainty that the greatest happuiess of a creature can
be secured without consulting the will of the Crea-
tor? And do not those young persons gi-eatly err,
who suppose that they can secure a full amount, even
of earthly blessings, without conforming, with the
utmost strictness, to those rules for conduct, which
the Bible and the Book of Natin-e, so plainly make
known ?

MOTIVES TO ACTION. 35

ATaxioe. Sensuality. Ambition. Their tendency.

Too many young men expect happiness from
wealth. This is their great object of study and
action, by night and by day. Not that they suppose
tliere is an inherent value in the wealth itself, but
only that it will secure the means of procuring the
happiness they so ardently desire. But the farther
they go, in the pursuit of wealth, for the sake of
happiness, especially if successfiil in their plans and
business, the more they forget their original pur-
pose, and seek wealth for the sake of wealth. To
get rich, is their principal motive to action.

So it is in regard to the exclusive pursuit of
sensual pleasure, or civil distinction. The farther
we go, the more we lose our original character,
and the more we become devoted to the objects
of pursuit, and incapable of being roused by other
motives.

The laws of God, whether we find them in the
constitution of the universe around us, or go higher
and seek them in the revealed word, are founded
on a thorough knowledge of human nature, and all
its tendencies. Do you study natural science — the
laws which govern matter, animate and inanimate?
What is the lesson which it constantly inculcates,
but that it is man's highest interest not to violate or
attempt to violate the rules which Infinite Wisdom
has adopted ; and that every violation of his lavra
brings punishment along with it ? Do you study
the laws of GJod, as revealed in the Bible ? And do
not they, too, aim to inculcate the necessity of con-

36 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Study of nature. Morality. Something still higher,

stant and endless obedience to his will, at the same
time that their rejection is accompanied by the
severest penalties which heaven and earth can in-
flict? What, in short, is the obvious design of
the Creator, wherever and whenever any traces of
his character and purposes can be discovered?
What, indeed, but to show us that it is our most
obvious duty and interest to love and obey Him ?

The young man whose highest motives are to
seek his own happmess, and please his friends and
neighbor, and the world around him, does much.
This should never be denied. He merits much — •
not in the eye of God, for of this I have nothing to
say in this volume — but from his fellow men. And
although he may have never performed a single
action from a desu-e to obey God, and make his
fellow men really better, as well as happier, he may
still have been exceedingly useful, compared with a
large proportion of mankmd.

But suppose a young man possesses a character
of this stamp — and such there are. How is he
ennobled, how is the dignity of his nature advanced,
how is he elevated from the rank of a mere com-
panion of creatures, — earthly creatures, too, — to
that of a meet companion and fit associate for the
inhabitants of the celestial world, and the Father of
aU ; when to these traits, so excellent and amiable in
themselves, is joined the pure and exalted desire to
pursue his studies and his employments, his pleas-
ures and his pastimes — in a word, every thhig —

MOTIVES TO ACTION. 37

Love of God the liichesi motive. How it is showa.

even the most trifling concern winch is ivoHh doing,
exactly as God would wish to have it done ; and
make the means of so doing, his great and daily
study ?

This, then, brings us to the highest of human
motives to action, the love of God. Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God supremely, and thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself, are the two great commands
which bind the human family together. When
our love to God is evinced by pure love to man,
and it is our constant prayer, ' Lord what wilt thou
have me to </o ; ' then we come under the influence
of motives which are worthy of creatures destined
to immortalit}'. When it is our meat and druik, from
a sacred regard to the Father of our sjiirits, and of
all things in the universe, material and immaterial,
to make every thought, word and action, do good —
have a bearing upon the welfare of one or more,
and the more the better — of our race, then alone
do we come u[) to the dignity of our nature, and,
by Divine aid, place ourselves; in ^he situation for
which the God of nature and of grace designed us.

I have thus treated, at greater length than I had at
first intended, of the importance of having an elevat-
ed aim, and of the motives to action. On the means by
which young men are to attain this elevation, it is the
purpose of this little work to dwell plainly and fully.
These means might be classed in three great divi-
sions ; viz. physical, mental, and moral. Whatever re-

4

58 THE YOUNG MAK's GUIDE.

Every person should labor. Numerous employments.

lates to the health, belongs to the first division ; what-
ever to the improvement of the mind, the second ;
and the formation of good manners and virtuous
habits, constitutes the third. But although an ar-
rangement of this sort might have been more logical,
it w^ould probably have been less interesting to the
reader. The means of religious improvement, ap-
propriately so called, require a volume of themselves.

Section III. Industry.

Nothing is more essential to usefulness and hap-
piness in life, than habits of industry. ' This we
commanded you,' says St. Paul,*that if any would
not work, neither should he eat.' Now this would
be the sober dictate of good sense, had the apostle
never spoken. It is just as true now as it was 2000
years ago, that no person possessing a sound mind
in a healthy body, has a right to live in this world
without labor. If he claims an existence on any
other condition, let him betake himself to some
other planet.

There are many kinds of labor. Some which
are no less usefid than others, are almost exclusively
mental. You may make your own selection fi-om a
veiy wide range of employments, all, perhaps, equal-
ly important to society. But something you must
do. Even if you happen to inherit an ample for-
tune, your health and happmess demand that you
should labor. To live in idleness, even if you have

ODUSTRY. 39

Self dependence. Misery of relying on others. Slavery.

the means, is not only injurious to youi*self, but a
species of fraud upon the community, and the chU-
dreu, — if children you ever have, — who have a
claim upon you for what you can earn and do.

Let me prevail with you tlien, when I urge you
to set out in life fully detennined to depend chiefly
on yourself, for pecuniary support ; and to be in
this respect, independent. In a countiy where the
general rule is that a person shall rise, — if he rise at
all, — by his own merit, such a resolution is indispen-
sable. It is usually idle to be looking out for sup-
port fi-om some other quarter. Suppose you should
obtain a place of office or trust through the friend-
ship, favor, or affection of others; what then? Why,
you hold your post at uncertainties. It may be
taken from you at almost any hour. But if you
depend on yourself alone, in this respect, your
mountain stands strong, and caimot very easily be
moved.

He who lives upon any thmg except his own
labor, is incessantly suiTounded by rivals. He is in
daily danger of being out-bidden ; his very bread
depends upon caprice, and he lives in a state of
never ceasing feai*. His is not, indeed, the dog's life,
* hunger and idleness,' but it is worse ; for it is ' idle-
ness with slavery ;' the latter being just the price of
the former.

Slaves, are often well fed and decently clothed :
but they dare not speak. They dare not be suspect-
ed even to think differently from their master, des-

%
40 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Mental Slavery. We should labor as long as we live.

pise his acts as much as they may ; — let hirn be
tyrant, drunkanl, fool, or all three at once, they
must either be silent, or lose his approbation.
Though possessing a thousand times his knowledge,
they yield to his assumption of superior under-
standing ; though knowhig it is tliey who, in fact, do
all that he is paid for doing, it is destruction to them
to seem as if they thought any portion of the service
belonged to themselves.

You smile, perhaps, and ask what all this tu'ade
against slaveiy means. But remember, there is
slavery of several kinds. There is mental slaveiy
as well as bodily ; and the former is not confined to
any particular division of the United States.

Begin, too, with a determination to labor through
life. There are many who suppose that when they
have secured to themselves a competence, they shall
sit with folded arms, in an easy chair, the rest of
their days, and enjoy it. i3ut they may be assured
that this will never do. The very fact- of a person's
haying spent the early and middle part of life in
active usefulness, creates a necessity, to the" body
and mind, of its continuance. By this is not meant
that men should labor as hard in old age, even in
proportion to their strength, as in early life. Youth
requires a great variety and amount of action, matu-
rity not so much, and age still less. Yet so much
as age does, in fact, demand, is more necessary than
to those who are younger. Children are so tena-
cious of life, that they do not appear to suffer

•

I>DUSTRT. 41

Evils of idleness. Anecdote. Labor in the open air.

immcdiattly, if exercise is neglected ; though a day
of reckoning must finally come.

Hence we see the reason why those who retire
fi*om business towai\ls the close of life, so often
become diseased, in body and mind ; and instead of
enjoying life, or making those around them happy,
become a source of misen.^ to themselves and
others.

Most people have a general belief in the impor-
tance of industrious habits ; and yet not a few make
strange work in endeavoring to form them. Some
attempt to do it by compulsion ; others by flattery.
Some think it is to be accomplished by set lessons,
in spite of example ; others by example alone.

A certain father wlio was deeply convinced of
the importance of formmg his sons to habits of in-
dustry, used to employ them whole days m remov-
ing and replacing heaps of stones. This was well
intended, and arose from regarding industry as a
high accomplishment , but there is some danger of
defeating our o^vn pui-pose in this way, and of pro-
ducing disgust. Besides this, labor enough can
usually be obtained which is ob\iously profitable.

All persons, without exception, ought to labor
more or less, every day in the open air. Of the truth
of this opinion, the public are beginning to be sensi-
ble; and hence we hear much said, lately, about
manual labor schools. Those who, fi-om particular
circumstances, cannot labor in the open air, should
substitute in its place some active mechanical em-
4*

42 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

High notions. Too proud to labor. Consequences

ployment, together with suitable calisthenic or gym-
nastic exercises.

It is a great misfortune of the present day, that
ahnost every one is, by his own estimate, raised
above his real state of life. Nearly every person
you meet with is aiming at a situation in which he
shall be exempted from the drudgery of laboring
with his hands.

Now we cannot all become ' lords^ and ' gentle-
men,'' if we would. There must be a large part of
us, after all, to make and mend clothes and houses,
and cairy on trade and commerce, and, in spite of
all tliat we can do, the far greater part of us must
actually work at something ; otherwise we fall under
the sentence ; ' He who will not work shall not eatJ'
Yet, so strong is the propensity to be thought ' gen-
tlemen ;' so general is this deshe amongst the youth
of this proud money making nation, that thousands
upon thousands of them are, at this moment, in a
state which may end in starvation ; not so much
because they are too lazy to earn their bread, as
because they are too proud!

And what are the consequences 7 A lazy youth
becomes a burden to those parents, whom he
ought to comfort, if not support. Always aspirmg
to something higher than he can reach, his life is
a life of disappointment and shame. If marriage
befall him, it is a real affliction, involving others as
well as himself. His lot is a thousand times worse
than that of the common laborer. Nineteen times

ON ECONOMT. 43

False economy. Examples of it. Franklin's maxim.

out of twenty a premature death awaits him : and,
alas ! how numerous are the cases in which tliat
death is most miserable, not to say ignominious !

Section IV. On Economy.

There is a false, as well as a true economy. I
have seen an individual who, with a view to econo-
my, was in the habit of splitting his wafers. Some-
times a thick wafer can be split into two, which
will answer a very good purpose; but at others,
both parts fall to pieces. Let the success be ever so
complete, however, all who reflect for a moment on
the value of time, must see it to be a losing process.

I knew a laboring man who would hire a horse,
and spend the greater part of a day, in going six or
eight miles and purchasing half a dozen bushels of
grain, at sixpence less a bushel than he must have
given near home. Thus to gain fifty cents, he sub-
jected himself to an expense, in time and money, of
one hundred and fifty. These are very common
examples of defective economy ; and of that ' with-
holding' which the Scripture says 'tends to pov-
erty.'

Economy in time is economy of money — for it
needs not Franklin to tell us that time is equivalent
to money. Besides, I never knew a person who
was economical of the one, who was not equally so
of the other. Economy of time will, therefore, be
an important branch of study.

44 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Take care of pence and minutes. Letter from a teacher.

But the study is rather difficult. For though
every young man of common sense knows that an
hour is sixty minutes, veiy few seem to know that
sixty minutes make an hour. On this account
many waste fi-agments of time, — of one, two, three
or five minutes each — without hesitation, and ap-
parently without regi'et ; — never thinking that fifteen
or twenty such fi-agments are equal to a full hour.
* Take care of the pence, the pounds will take care
of themselves,' is not more true, than that hours
will take care of themselves, if you will only secure
the minutes. *

In order to form economical habits, several im-

* A teacher, who has been pleased to say much in behalf
of this work, and to do much to extend its circulation, in a
late letter, very modestly, but properly makes the following
inquiry; * Has not Dr. Franklin's precept, time is money,
made many misers'? Is it not used without sufficient quali-
fication'? '

There is no good thing, nor any good advice, but what
may be abused, if used or taken without qualification.
There may be misers in regard to time, as well as money;
and no one can become miserly in the one respect without
Boon becoming so in the other. He who cannot or rather
will not give any portion of his time to promote the happi-
ness of those around him, in the various ways of doing good,
which perpetually offer, lest it should take from his means of
earning property, is as much to be pitied as he who hoards
all his dollars and cents. Still it is true that youth should
husband well their time, and avoid wasting either that or
their money.

ON ECONOMY. 45

A time for everj- thing. Anecdote. All have leisure.

portant points must be secured. You must have
for every purpose and thing a time^ and place ; and
every thing must be done at the time^ and all tilings
put in their place.

1. Every thing must be done at the time. Whether
you attempt little or much, let every hour have its
employment, in business, study, social conversation,
or diversion ; and unless it be on extraordinary oc-
casions, you must not suffer your plan to be broken.
It is in this way that many men who perform an
incredible amount of business, have abundant leis-
ure. And it is for want of doing business systemati-
cally that many who effect but little, never find
much leisure. They spend their Uves in literally
* doing nothing.'

An eminent prime minister of Holland was asked
how he could perform such a vast amount of busi-
ness, as it was known he did, and yet have so much
leisure. ' I do every thing at the time ; ' was the
reply.

Some of you will say you have no room for any
plan of your own ; that your whole time is at the
will of your master, or employer. But this is not so.
There are few persons who are so entirely devoted
to others as not to have mmutes, if not hours, every
day, which they can call their own. Now here it
is that character is tried and proved. He alone
who is wise in small matters, will be wise in larsre
ones. Whether your unoccupied moments amount
ill a day to half an hour, or an hour, or two hours,

46 THE YOUNG MAN's tfUIDE.

Eeading to the purpose. Anecdote. A place for thinga

have something to do in each of them. If it be
social conversation, the moment your hour arrives,
engage in it at once ; if study, engage at once in
that. The very fact that you have but a veiy few
minutes at your command, will create an interest in
yom* employment dm-ing that time.

Perhaps no persons read to better purpose than
those who have but veiy little leisure. Some of
the very best minds have been formed in this man-
ner. To repeat their names w^ould be to mention a
host of self educated men, in this and in other coun-
tries. To show what can be done, I will mention
one fact which fell under my own observation. A
young man, about fifteen years of age, unaccustom-
ed to study, and with a mind wholly undisciplined,
read Rollin's Ancient Histoiy through in about
three months, or a fourth of a year ; and few per-
sons were ever more closely confined to a laborious
employment than he vraa during the whole time.
Now to read four such works as Rollin in a year,
is by no means a matter to be despised.

2.' Every thing should have its place. Going mto
a shop, the other day, where a large number of per-
sons were employed, I observed the following
mottc, in large letters, pasted on the side of the
room , ' Put every thing in its proper place.' I
found the owner of the shop to be a man of order
and economy.

An old gentleman of my acquaintance, who al-
ways had a place for every thing, made it a rule, if

i5T)0/ET?CE. 47

A severe rule. Slaves to indolence. Complainers.

any thing was out of its place, and none of his chil-
dren could find it, to blame the whole of them.
This was an unreasonable measure, but produced
Its intended effect. His whole family follow his
example ; they have- a place for every thing, and
they put every thing in its place.

Unless both the foregoing rules are observed, true
economy does not and cannot exist. But without
economy, life is of little comparative value to our-
selves or others. This trait of character is generally
claimed, but more rarely possessed.

Section V. Indolence.

One of the greatest obstacles in the road to excel-
lence, is indolence. I have known young men who
would reason finely on the value of time, and the
necessity of rising early and improving every mo-
ment o^ it. Yet I have also known these same
aspiring young men to lie dozing, an hour or two
in the morning, afi;er the wants of nature had been
reasonably, and more than reasonably gi'atified.
You can no more rouse them, with all their fine
arguments, than you can a log. There they lie,
completely enchained by indolence.

1 have known others continually complain of the
shortness of time ; that they had no time for busi-
ness, no time for study, &c. Yet they would lavish
hours In yawning at a public house, or hesitating
whether they had better go to the theatre or stay; or

48 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Indecision in the young. Some of its evils.

wlietlier they had better get up, or indulge in *a
httle more slumber.' Such people wear the most
galling chams, and as long as they continue to wear
them there is no reasonmg with them.

An indolent person is scarcely human : he is half
quadruped, and of the most stupid species too. He
may have good intentions of dischargmg a duty,
w^hile that duty is at a distance ; but let it approach,
let him view the time of action as near, and down
go his hands in languor. He tvills, perhaps; but he
wn wills in the next breath.

What is to be done w^ith such a man, especially
if he is a young one ? He is absolutely good for
nothing. Business tires him ; reading fatigues him ;
the public service hUerferes with his pleasures, or
restrains his freedom. His life must be passed on
a bed of down. If he is employed, moments are as
hours to him — if he is amused, hours are as mo-
ments. In general, his whole time eludes him, he
lets it ghde unheeded, \\ke water under a bridge.
Ask him what he has done with his morning, — he
cannot tell you ; for he has lived v/ithout reflection,
and almost without knowing whether he has lived
at all.

The indolent man sleeps as long as it is possible
for him to sleep, dresses slowly, amuses himself in
conversation with the first person that calls upon
him, and loiters about till dinner. Or if he engages
in any employment, however important, he leaves
it the moment an opportunity of talking occurs. At

KARLY RISING. 49

Short history of the indolent. Late hours censured.

length diiiDer iis served up; and after lounging at
the table a long time, the evening wUl probably be
spent as unprofitably as the morning : and this it may
be, is no unfair specimen of liis whole life. And is
not such a wretch, for it is improper to call liim a
man — good for nothing.' What is he good for.''
How can any rational being be willing to spend the
precious gift of life in a manner so worthless, and
so much beneath the dignity of human nature.''
When he is about stepping into the grave, how can
he review the past with any degree of satisfaction ?
What is his history, whether recorded here or tliere,
— in golden letters, or on the plainest slab — but,
' he was bom' and ' he died ! '

Sectio?» VI. Early Rising and Rest.

Dr. Rush mentions a patient of his who thought
liimself wonderfully abstinent because he drank no
spirituous or fermented liquors, except a bottle of
wine or so, after dinner!

Ln hke manner some call it early to retire at ten
or eleven o'clock. Others think ten very late. Dr.
Good, an English writer on medicine, m treatuig
of the approj)riate means of preventing the gout in
tliose who are predisposed to it, after giving direc-
tions in regard to diet, drink, exercise, &c., recom-
mends an early hour of retiring to rest. 'By all
means,' says he, ' you should go to bed by eleven.'

To half the population of New England such a

50 THE YOUNG MAw's GUIDE.

Lale evening parties. Morning air. Uses of early rising.

dii'ection would seem strange ; but by the inhabitants
01 cities and large towns, who already begin to ape
the customs and fashions of the old world, the
caution is well understood. People who are in the
habit of making and attending parties which com-
mence at 9 or 10 o'clock m the evening, can hardly
be expected to rise "vvith the sun.

We hear much said about the benefit of the
morning au*. Many wise men have supposed the
common opinion on this subject to be erroneous;
and that the mistake has arisen from the fact that
being refreshed and invigorated by rest, the change
is within instead of without ; that our physical frames
and mental faculties are more healthy than they
were the previous evening, rather than that the
surrounding atmosphere has altered.

Whether the moniuig air is more healthy or not,
it is certainly healthy enough. Besides, there are
so many reasons for early rising that if I can per-
suade the reader to go to bed early, I shall have
little fear of his lying late in the morning.

1st. He who rises early and plans his work, and
early sets himself about it, generally finds his busi-
ness go well with him the whole day. He has
taken tune by the foretop ; and will be sure to go
before, or drive his business ; while his more tardy
neighbor ' suflfers his business to drive him.' There
is something strildng in the feeling produced by
beginning a day's work thus seasonably. It gives
an impulse to a man's thoughts, speech, and actions,

EARLY RISING. 51

Sir Matthew Hale. Laborers in the field. Late rising.

which usually lasts through the day. This is not a
mere whim, but sober fact ; as can be attested by
thou.sands. The person who rises late., usually
pleads (for mankind are very ingenious in defence
of what falls in with their o^vn inclinations,) that he
does as much in the progress of the day, as those
who rise early. This may, in a few instances, be
true ; but in general, facts show the reverse. The
motions of the eai'ly riser will be more lively and
vigorous all day. He may, indeed, become dull
late in the evening, but he ought to be so.

Sir IMatthew Hale said that after spending a Sun-
day well, the rest of the week was usiially pros-
perous. This is doubtless to be accounted for —
in part at least — on the above principle.

2. In the warm season, the morning is the most
agreeable time for labor. Many farmers and me-
chanics in tlie countr\' perform a good half day's
work before the people of the city scarcely know
that the sun shines.*

3. To he snoring late in the morning, assimilates
us to tlie most beastly of animals. Burgh, an in-
genious English writer, justly obser\'es; 'There is
no time spent more stupidly than that which some
luxurious people pass in a morning between sleep-

* Dr. Franklin, in view of the latter fact, wrote a liumorouu
Es.say, at Paris, in which he labored hard to show the peo-
ple of that luxurious and dissipated city, that the sun gives
light as soon as it rise.':.

52 THE YOUNG MAN's GUtDE.

Second naps. Early risers long lived. Sleep before midnight.

ing and wakiiig, after nature has been fully gi'atified.
He who is awake may be doing somethmg : he wlio
is asleep, is receiving the refreshment necessary to
fit him for action: but the hours spent in dozing
find slumbering can hardly be called existence.'

The late Dr. Smith, of Yale College, in his lectures,
used to urge on his hearers never to take ' the second
nap.'' He said that if this rule were steadily and
universally followed by persons in health, — tliere
would be no dozmg or oversleepmg. If, for once,
tliey should awake from the first nap before nature
was sufficiently restored, the next night would re-
store the proper balance. In laying this do\vn as
a rule. Dr. Smith would, of course, except those in-
stances in which we are awakened by accident.

4. It has been remarked by experienced physi-
cians that they have seldom, if ever, knov^ai a person
of great age, who was not an early riser. In enu-
merating the causes of longevity. Rush and Sinclair
both uiclude eai'ly rising.

5. It is a trite but just maxim that one hour's
sleep before midnight is worth two afl:erward.
Why it is so, would perhaps be difficult to say.
The power of habit is gi-eat, and as the majority
of children are trained to go to bed early, perhaps
this will in part account for the fact. So when
the usual hour for meal airives, a given amount of
food eaten at the time, is digested in a more healthy
and regular m.auner than if eaten one, or two, or
three hours alterwards. Again, nature ceitainly

EARLY RISING. 53

Economy of early rising| Estimates. Loss of health.

Intended man should exercise during the day, and
sleep in the night. I do not say the whole night;
because in tlie winter and in high northern latitudes,
tills would be devotmg an unreasonable portion of
tune to sleep. It would hardly do to sleep three or
four months. But m all countries, eind in all cli-
mates, we should try to sleep half our hours before
midnight.

6. The person who, instead of gomg to bed at
nine, sits up till eleven, and then sleeps during two
hours of daylight the followmg morning, is grossly
negligent of economy. For, suppose he makes this
his constant practice, durmg his whole business life,
say fifty yeare. The extra oil or tallow which he
would consume would not be estimated at less
than one cent an evening; which, in fifty years
would be $182.50. Not a ver}' large sum to be
sure ; but, to every young man, worth saving ; since,
to a community of 3000 young men, the amount
would be no less than $182,500. Then the loss in
health and strength would be far greater, though it
is obvious that it cannot so easily be computed.

7. Once more. If an hour's sleep before mid-
night is worth more than an hour in the morning,
then an hom* in the morning is of course worth
less than an hour before midnight, and a person
must sleep a greater number of hours in the morn-
ing to obtain an equal amount of rest A person
retiring at eleven and rising at eight, would pro-
bably get no more rest, possibly less, than a per-

5*

54 THE YOUNG man's GUIDE. «

More 'estimates. Millions of y^ars wasted annuallj'.

son who should sleep fi'om nine to five ; — a period
one hour shorter. But if so, he actually loses an
hour of time a day. And you well know, if
Franklm had not told you so, that time is money.

Now, if we estimate the value of this time at
ten cents an hour for one person in four, of the
population of the United States — and this is pro-
bably a fau' estimate — the loss to an individual in a
year, or 313 working days, would be $ 31.30 ; and
in 50 years $ 1565. A sum sufficient to buy a good
farm in many parts of the country. The loss to a
population equal to that of the United States, would,
in fifty years, be no less than five thousand and
eighty-six millions of dollai's !

But this is not the whole loss. The time of
the young and old is beyond all price for the pur-
poses of mental and moral improvement. Espe-
cially is this true of the precious golden hours of
the morning. Think, then, of the immense waste
in a year ! At twelve hours a day, more than a
million of years of valuable time ai*e wasted annu-
ally in the United States.

I have hitherto made my estimates on the sup-
position that we do not sleep too much, in the ag-
gregate, and that the only loss sustained arises
fi-om the manner of procuring it. But suppose,
once more, we sleep an hour too much daily.
This involves a waste just twice as gi'eat as that
which we have already estimated.

Do you startle at these estimates ! It is proper

EARLV RISING. 55

Examplesof early rising. Brougham. Bonaparte.

that many of you should. You have misspent
time enougli. Awake your 'drowsy souls,' and
ehake off your stupid habits. Think of Napoleon
breakmg up the boundaries of kingdoms, and de-
thi'ouing kings, and to accomplish these results, go-
ing through with an amount of mental and bodUy
labor that few constitutions would be equal to,
with only four hours of sleep in the twenty-four.
Think of Brougham too, who works as many horn's,
perhaps, as any man m England, and has as much
influence, and yet sleeps as few ; i. e., only four.
A hundred persons might be named, and the list
would mclude some of the greatest benefactors of
their race, who never think of sleeping more than
six hours a day. And yet many of you are scarce-
ly contented with eight !

Would you conquer as Bonaparte did — not
states, provinces, and empires, — but would you
aspire to the high honor of conqueiing yourselves,
and of extending your conquests intellectually and
morall}^, you must take the necessary steps. The
oath is a plain one ; requiring nothing but a little
moral courage. 'What man has done, man may
do.' I know you do not and ought not to aspire to
conquer kingdoms, or to become prime ministers ;
Jut you ought to aspire to get the victory over your-
selves:— a victory as much more noble than those
of Napoleon, and Caesar, and Alexander, as inlel •
lectual and moral influence are superior to mere
brute force.

56 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Obedience tends to longevity. A youthful error.

Section VII. On Duty to Parents.

It was the opinion of a veiy eminent and ob-
serving man, that those who are obedient to pa-
rents, are more healthy, long lived, and happy than
those who are disobedient. And he reasons very
fairly on the subject.

Now I do not know whether the promise an-
nexed to the fifth command, (whatever might have
been intended, as addressed to the Jews,) has any
special reference to happiness in this life. I only
know that in general, those who are obedient to
parents are apt to be vutuous in other respects ; for
the virtues as well as the vices usually go in com-
panies. But that virtue in general tends to long
life and happiness, nobody will entertain a doubt.

I am sorry, however, to find that the young,
when they approach adult years, are apt to regard
authority as ii'ksome. It sliould not be so. So
long as they remain under the parental roof, they
ought to feel it a pleasure to conform to the wishes of
the parents in all the arrangements of the family, if
not absolutely unreasonable. And even in the latter
case, it is my own opinion — and one which has not
been hastily formed, either — that it would be better
to submit, with cheerfulness ; and for three reasons.

1st. For the sake of your own reputation. ; which
will always be endangered by disobedience, how-
ever unjust the parental claim may be.

DUTY TO PARENTS. 57

Reasons for obedience. God's will. Leaving home hastily.

2d. From a love of your pai*ents, and a sense of
what you owe them for theu' kmd care ; togetlier
with a conviction that perfect rectitude is not to
be expected. You will find error, more or
less, everj'^where around you — even in your-
selves ; why should you expect perfection in your
pai-ents ?

3d. Because it is better to suffer wrong than to
do wi-oDg. Perhaps there is nothing which so im-
proves human character, as suffering ^vrongfully;
although the world may be slow to admit the prin-
ciple. IMore than this; God himself has said a
great deal about obedience to parents.

If real evils multiply so that a young man finds
he cannot reinam in his father's house, without
suffering not only in his feelings, but permanently
in his temper and disposition, I will not say that
it is never best to leave it. I do not believe, how-
ever, there is ojlen any such necessity. Of those
who leave their paternal home on this plea, I be-
lieve nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thou-
sand might profitably remam, if they would ; and
that a very large number would find the fault
in tliemselves — m their own temper, disposition or
mistaken views — rather than in their parents.

And what is to be gained by going away ? Un-
fortunately this is a question too seldom asked by
restless, or headstrong youths ; and when asked and
answered, it is usually found that their unhappy
experience proves the answer to have been uicor-

58 THE ¥OU>'G MA>-'5 GUIDE.

Case of Franklin. Attractive siih:. A just maxini.

rect. I have seldom known a youth turn out well
who left his parents or his guardian or masier.
On diis subject, Franklin, I know, is often trium-
phantly referred to ; but for one such instance as
that, I hazard nothing in saying there are hun-
dreds of a contrary character. Within the circle
of my own obr^rvation, young men who leave in
this manner, have wished themselves back again a
thousand times.

But be this as it may, so long as you remain in
the ftimily, if you are 70 years of age, by all means
yield to authority' imphcitly, and if posible, cheer-
fiilly. Avoid, at least, altercation and reproaches.
If things do not go well, fix your eye upon some
great example of suffering ^vrongftilly, and endea-
vor to profit by it.

There is no sight more atti-active than that of
a well ordered family ; one in which every child,
whether five years old or fifty, submits cheerful-
ly to those rules and regulations which parental
authority has thought fit to impose. It is, to use a
strong expression, an image of heaven. But, ex-
actly in the same proportion, a family of the con-
trary character resembles the regions below.

Xor is this all. It is an ancient maxim, — and
however despised by some of the modems, none
can be more true, — that he only is fit to com-
mand who has first learned to obey. Obedience^
is, in fact, the great lesson of human life. We first
learn to yiell our will to the dictates of parental

FAITHFULNESS. 5il

Lessons of obedience. Study them earl_v. Faithfulness.

love and wisdom. Through them we learn to
yield submissively to the great laws of the Creator,
as established in the material world. ^Ve learn to
avoid, if possible, tlie flame, the hail, the severity of
the cold, the liglitning, the tornado, and the earth-
quake ; and we do not choose to fall from a preci-
pice, to have a hea\y body fall on us, to receive
vitriol or arsenic into our stomachs, (at least in
health) or to remain a very long time, immersed
in water, or buried in the earth. We submit also
to the government mader which we live. All
these are lessons of obedience. But the Christian
goes farther ; and it is his purpose to obey not only
all these laws, but any additional ones he may find
imposed, whether they pertain to material or imma-
terial existences.

In short, he who would put himself in the most
easy position, in the sphere allotted him by the
Author of Nature, must learn to obey, — often im-
plicitly and unconditionally. At least he must
know how to obey : and the earlier this know-
ledge is acquired, and corresponding habits estab-
lished, the better and happier will he find his con-
dition, and the more quiet his conscience.

Sectio:^ VIII. Faithfulness.

Hardly any thing pleases me more in a young
man, than faiihfubess to those for whom he is
employed, whether parents, guardians, masters, or
otliers.

60 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Duly to employers. A common error. Wretched apology.

There appeai-s to be a strange misapprehension,
in the mmds of many, in regard to this point. There
are few who will not admit, in theoiy, whatever
may be then* practice, that they ought to be faithful
to their parents. And by far the majority of the
young doubtless perceive the propriety of being
faithful to their masters ; so long at least, as they are
present. I will even go faither and admit that the
number of young men — sons, wards, apprentices,
and sen^ants — who would willingly be so far un-
faithful as to do any thing positively wrong because
those who are set over them happen to be absent,
is by no means considerable.

But by faithfulness to our employers, I mean
something more than the mere domg of things
because we are obliged to do them, or because we
must. I wish to see young men feel an interest in
the well being and success of their employers ; and
take as good care of then' concerns and property,
whether they are present or absent, as if they were
their o\vn. The youth who \vould be more indus-
trious, pereevering, prudent, economical, and atten
live in business, if the profits were his own, than he
now is, does not in my opinion come up to the
mai'k at which he should aim.

The gi'eat apology for what I call unfaithfulness
to employei-s, is, ' What shall I get by it ? ' that is,
by being faithful. I liave seen many a young man
who would labor at the employment regularly
assigned him, during a certain number of hours, or

FAITHFULNESS. 61

Examples of fidelity. Anecdote. The Mahratta Prince.

till a certain job was completed, after which he
seemed imwilling to lift a finger, except for his o^vii
amusement, gratification, or emolument. A few
minutes' labor might repair a breach m a wall ot
corn crib, and save the owner many dollai-s' worth
of property, but it is passed by ! By putting a few
deranged parcels of goods in tlieh* proper place, or
writing down some small item of account, which
would save his employer much loss of time or
money, or both, a faithful clerk might often do a great
service. Would he not do it, if the loss was to be
his own ? Why not then do it for his employer.''

Those who neglect things, or perform them lazily
or cai-elessly, because they imagine they shall get
nothing for it, would do well to read the following
story of a devoted and faithful domestic ; which I
suppose to be a fact It needs no commenL

A Mahratta Prince, in passing through a certain
apartment, one day, discovered one of his servants
asleep with his master's slippers clasped so tightly
to his breast, that he was unable to disengage them.
Struck with the fact, and concluding at once, that
a pereon who was so jealously careful of a trifle,
could not fail to be ftiithful when entiiisted with a
thing of more iinj)ortance, he appointed him a
member of his body-guards. The result proved
that the prince was not mistaken. Rising in office,
step by step, the young man soon became the most
distinguished military commander hi Mahratta; and
his fame ultimately spread through all India.

6

G2 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Intemperance. Excess in eating and drinking. Its criminality.

Section IX. On Forming Temperate Habits.

* Be temperate iii ail things,' is an excellent rule,
and of very high authority.

Drunkenness and Gluttony are vices so degrading,
that advice is, I must confess, nearly lost on those
who are capable of indulging in them. If any youth,
unhappily mitiated in these odious and debasing
vices, should happen to see what I am now writing,
I beg him to read the command of God, to the
Israelites, Deut. xxi. The father and mother are to
take the bad son ' and brmg him to the elders of the
city ; and they shall say to the elders, this our son
will not obey our voice: he is a glutton and a
drunkard. And all the men of the city shall stone
him with stones, that he die.' This will give him
some idea of the odiousness of his crime, at least in
the sight of Heaven.

But indulgence far short of gross drunkenness
and gluttony is to be deprecated ; and the more so,
because it is too often looked upon as being no
crime at all. Nay, there are many persons, who
boast of a refined taste in matters connected with
eating and drmking, who are so far from being
ashamed of employing their thoughts on the sub-
ject, that it is theu boast that they do it.

Gregory, one of the Christian fathers, says : ' It
is not the quantity or the quality of the meat, or
drink, but the love of it, that is condemned : ' that is

TEMPERANCE. 6*3

Excessive indulgence. Its injury to healtli. Its expense.

to say, the indulgence beyond tlie absolute de-
mands of nature ; the hankering after it ; the neglect
of some dut}' or other for the sake of the enjoyments
of the table. I believe, however, there may be
error, both in quantity and quality.

This love of what are called 'good eating and
drinking,' if very unamiable in gro^vn persons,
is perfectly hateful in a youth; and, if he indulge
in the propensity, he is already half ruined. To
warn you against acts of fraud, robbery, and vio-
lence, is not here my design. Neither am I s})eak-
ing against acts which the jailor and tlie hangman
punish, nor against those moral offences which all
men condemn, but against indulgeiices, which, by
men in general, are deemed not only hai'mless, but
meritorious ; but which observation has taught me
to regard as destructive to human happuiess ; and
against which all ought to be cautioned, even in
their boyish days.

Such indulgences are, in the first place, very
expensive. The materials are costly, and the pre-
paration still more so. What a monstrous thing,
that, in order to satisfy tlie appetite of one person,
there must be one or two others at work constantly.*
More fuel, culinary implements, kitchen room:

* I have occasionally seen four or five persons in constant
employ, solely to supply tlie wants of a family of the same
number, whose health, collectively, required an amount of
physical labor adequate to their own wants.

64 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

An anecdote. Reflections. Water drinkers.

what ! all these merely to tickle the palate of four
or five people, and especially people who can hardly
pay their bills ! And, then, the loss of time — the
time spent in pleasing the palate !

"A young man," says an English writer, "some
years ago, offered himself to me, as an amanuensis,
for which he appeared to be perfectly qualified.
The terms were settled, and I requested him to sit
down, and begin ; but looking out of the window,
whence he could see the church clock, he said,
somewhat hastily, 'I cannot stop now sir, I must go
to dinner.^ ' Oh ! ' said I, ' you must go to dinner,
must you ! Let the dinner, which you must wait
upon to-day, have your constant services, then ; for
you and I shall never agree.'

" He had told me that he was in great distress for
want of employment ; and yet, when relief was
there before his eyes, he could forego it for tlie sake
of getting at his eating and drmking three or four
hours sooner than was necessary."

This anecdote is good, so far as it shows the
folly of an unwillingness to deny ourselves in small
matters, in any circumstances. And yet punctual-
ity, even at meals, is not to be despised.

Water-drinkers are universally laughed at: but, it
has always seemed to me, that they are amongst the
most welcome of guests, and that, too, though the
host be by no means of a niggardly turn. The
truth is, they give no trouble ; they occasion no anx-
iety to please them ; they are sure not to make their

TEMPERANCE. 65

Health, the first thing. Extract from Ecclesiasticus.

sittinofs inconveniently long ; and, above all, their ex-
ample teaches moderation to the rest of tlie company.

Your notorious 'lovers of good cheer' are, on
the contrar}", not to be invited without due reflection.
To entertain one of them is a serious business ; and
as people are not apt voluntarily to undertake such
pieces of business, the well-known ' lovers of good
eating and drinking ' are left, very generally, to en-
joy it by themselves, and at their ovm exjoense.

But, all other considerations aside, AeaZ^/?, one of
the most valuable of earthly possessions, and without
which all the rest are worth nothing, bids us not
only to refrain fi-om excess in eathig and drinking,
but to stop short of what might be indulged in with-
out any apparent impropriety.

The words of Ecclesiasticus ought to be often
read by young people. ' Eat modestly that which is
set before thee, and devour not, lest thou be hated.
When thou sittest amongst many, reach not thine
hand out first of all. How little is sufficient for a
man well taught ! A wholesome sleep cometh of a
temperate belly. Such a man riseth up in the morn-
ing, and is ivell at ease icith himself. Be not too
hasty of meats ; for excess of meats bringeth sick-
ness, and choleric disease cometh of gluttony. By
surfeit have many perished, and he that dieteth him-
self prolongeth his life. Show not thy valiantness
in wine ; for wine hath destroyed many.'

How true are these words! How well worthy
of a constant place in our memories ! Yet, what

66 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Certain songs condemned. Disregard of dainties. An example.

pains have been taken to apologize for a life con-
ti-ary to these precepts ! And, what punishment can
be too gi'eat, what mark of infamy sufficiently
signal, for those pernicious villains of talent, who
have employed that talent m the composition of
Bacchanalian songs ; that is to say, pieces of fine
and captivating writing in praise of one of the most
odious and destructive vices in the black catalogue
of human depravity !

' Who,' says the eccenti'ic, but laborious Cobbett,
* what man, ever performed a greater quantity of
labor than I have performed? Now, in a great
measure, I owe my capability to perform this labor
to my disregard of dainties. I ate, during one
whole year, one mutton chop every day. Being
once in town, with one son (then a little boy) and
a clerk, while my family was in the country, I had,
for several weeks, nothmg but legs of mutton. The
first day, a leg of mutton boiled or roasted ; second,
cold ; third, hashed ; then, leg of mutton boiled ; and
so on.

'When I have been by myself, or nearly so, I
have always proceeded thus: given directions for
having cvei'y day the same thing, or alternately as
above, and every day exactly at the same hour, so
as to prevent the necessity of any talk about the
matter. I am certain that, upon an average, I have
not, during my Ufe, spent more than thirty-Jive min-
vies a day at table, including all the meals of
the day. I like, and I take care to have, good and

TEMPERANCE. 67

Rapid eating disapproved of. Its evils. Intentions of nature.

clean victuals ; but, if wholesome and clean, that is
enough. If I find it, by chance, too coarse for my
appetite, I put the food aside, or let somebody do
it ; and leave the appetite to gather keenness.'

Now I have no special desire to recommend mut-
ton chops to my readers, nor to hold out the exam-
ple of the individual whose language I have quoted,
as worthy of general imitation. There is one les-
son to be learned, however. Cobbett's never tiring
industr}' is well known. And if we can rely on his
own statements Ln regard to his manner of eating,
we see another proof that what are called ' dainties,*
and even many things which are often supposed to
be necessaries, are very far from being indispensa-
ble to health or happiness.

I am even utterly opposed to the rapid eating of
which he speaks. In New England especially, the
danger is on tlie other side. ' Were it not fi-om
respect to others, I never would wish for more than
eight minutes to eat my dinner in,' said a merchant
to me one day. Now / can swallow a meal at any
time, in Jive minutes ; but this is not eating. If it
is, the teeth were made — as well as the saliva —
almost in vain. No ! this swallowing down a meal
in five or even ten minutes, so common among the
active, enterprising, and industiious peoi)le of this
country, is neither healthy, nor decent, nor econom-
ical. And instead of spending only thirty-Jive minr
utes a day in eating ; every man, woman, and child

68 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Mistake corrected. All food must be well masticated.

ought, as a matter of duty, to spend about tivice the
time in that way. This would give the teeth and
sahvary glands an opportunity to come up to the
work which God in nature assigned them. We
may indeed cheat them for a time, but not with im-
punity, for a day of reckoning will come ; and some
of our rapid eaters will find then- bill (in stomach or
liver complaints, or gout or rheumatism) rather
large. They will probably lose more time in this
way, than they can possibly save by eating rapidly.

The idea of preventing conversation about what
we eat is also idle, though Dr. Franklin and many
other wise men, thought otherwise. Some of our
students in commons and elsewhere, suppose them-
selves highly meritorious because they have adopt-
ed the plan of appointing one of their number to
read to the company, while the rest are eating.
But they are sadly mistaken. Nothing is gained
by the practice. On the contrary, much is lost by
it. The bow cannot always remain bent, without
injury. Neither can the mind always be kept
* toned ' to a high pitch. Mind and body must and
will have theb relaxations.

•I am not an advocate for wasting time or for eat-
ing more than is necessary. Nay, I even believe,
on the contrary, with most medical men, that we
generally eat about twice as much as nature re-
quires. But I do say, and with emphasis, that food
must be masticated.

Before T dismiss the subject of temperance, lei

TEMPERANCE. 69

Tea and coffee injurious. Other drinks. Water the best

me beseech you to resolve to free yourselves fi-om
slaveiy to tea and coffee. Experience has taught
me, that they are injwious to health. Even my
habits of sobriet}'^, moderate eating, and early rising,
were not, until I left off using them, sufficient to
give me that complete health which I have since had.

I do not undertake to prescribe for others exactly ;
but, I do say, that to pour down regulai'ly, every
day, a quait or two of warm liquid^ whether mider
the name of tea, coffee, soup, grog, or anything else,
is greatly injurious to health. However, at present,
what I have to represent to you, is the great deduc-
tion which they make,, from your power of being
useful, and also from your power to husband your
income, whatever it may be, and fi'om whatever
source arising. These things cost something ; and
wo to him who forgets, or never knows, till he pays
it, how large a bill they make — in the coui-se of
a year.

How much to be desired is it, that mankind
would return once more, to the use of no other'
drink than that pure beverage which nature pre-
pared for the sole drink of man ! So long as we
are in health, we need no other; nay, we have no
right to any other. It is the testimony of all, or
almost all whose testimony is worth having, that
water is the best known drink. But if water is
better than all others, all others are, of course, worse
than water.

As to food and drmk_ generally, let me say in

70 THE YOUNG man's GUIDE.

Water the only drink. Influence of habit. Suppers.

conclusion, that simplicity is the grand point to aim
at. Water, we have seen, is the sole drink of man ;
but tliere is a great variety of food provided for his
sustenance. He is allowed to select from this im-
mense variety, tliose kinds, which the experience
of mankind generally, combined and compared with
his own, show to be most useful. He can live on
almost any thing. Still there is a choice to be ob-
served, and so far as his cii'cumstances pennit, he
is in duty bound to exercise that choice. God has
said by his servant Paul ; ' Whether ye eat or drink,
or whatsoever ye do,' &c.

What we believe to be most useful to us, though
at first disagreeable, we may soon learn to prefer.
Our habits, then, should be early formed. We
should always remember these two rules, however.
1st. The fewer different articles of food used at any
one meal, the better; however excellent in their
nature those may be which are left untasted. 2.
Never eat a moment longer than the food, if well
masticated, actually revives and refreshes you. The
moment it makes you feel heavy or dull, or palls
upon the taste, you have passed the line' of safety.

Section X. On Suppers.

Suppers, properly so called, are confined, in a
considerable degree, to cities ; and- 1 was at fii^st in
doubt whether I should do rs much good by giving
my voice agamst them, as I should of mischief by

ON SUPPERS. 71

Late meals. Customs of our ancestors. Of the Jews.

spreading through the comitiy the laiowledge of
a WTetched practice. But farther reflection has
convinced me that I ought to oflfer my sentiments
on this subject.

By suppers, I mean a fouilh meal, just before
going to bed. Indi\iduals who have eaten quite
as many times during the day as nature requires,
and who take then* tea, and perhaps a httle bread
and butter, at six, must go at nine or ten, tliey think,
and eat another hearty meal. Some make it tlie
most luxmious repast of the day.

Now many of our plain comitiy people do not
know that such a practice exists. They often eat
too much. It is true, at their third meal, but their
active habits and pui e ah' enable them to digest it
better than their city brethren could. Besides, their
third meed never comes so late, by several hours,
as the suppers of cities and towns.

Our English ancestors, 200 years ago, on both
sides of the Atlantic, dined at eleven, took tea early,
£uid had no suppers. So it was with the Jews of
old, one of the healthiest nations that ever lived be-
yond the Mediterranean. They knew nothmg of
our modem dinners at three or four, and suppers
at nine, ten, or eleven.

But not to ' take something late at night with
the rest,' would at present be regarded as ' vulgar,'
and who could endure it ? Here, I confess, I
tremble for some of my readers, whose lot it is
to be cast in the city, lest they should, in this

72 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

The stomach needs its season of repose. An anecdote.

single instance, hesitate to ' take advice.' But I will
hope for better thmgs.

If you would give your stomach a season of re-
pose, as well as the rest of your system ; if you
would sleep soundly, and either dream not at all,
or have your dreams pleasant ones ; if you would
rise in the mornmg with your head clear, and free
from pain, and your mouth clean and sweet, m-
stead of being parched, and foul ; if you would
unite your voice — in spirit at least — with the
voices of praise to the Creator, which ascend every
where unless it be from the dwellings of creatures
that should be men, — if, in one word, you would
lengthen your lives several years, and increase the
enjoyment of the last thuly yeai'S 33 per cent, with-
out diminishing that of the first forty, then I beg of
you to abstain from suppers !

I am acquainted with one individual, who partly
fi'om a conviction of the injury to himself, and
partly from a general detestation of the practice,
not only abstains from every thing of the kind,
but from long observation of its effects, goes to the
other extreme, and seldom takes even a third meal.
And I know of no evil which arises from it. On
the contrary, I believe that, for him, no course
eould be better. Be that as it may, adult mdi-
viduals should never eat more than three times a
day, nor should they ever partake of any food,
solid or liquid, within three or four hours of the
period of retiring to resn

ON DRESS. 73

A wretched practice censured. The purposes of dress.

But if eating ordinary suppei-s is pernicious,
what shall we say of the practice which some in-
dulge who aspire to be pillai"s in church or state,
with othei*s of pretensions less lofty, of going to cer-
tam eating houses, at a very late hour, and spending
a considerable portion of the night — not in eat-
ing, merely, but in quaffing poisonous draughts, and
spreadmg noxious fumes, and uttermg language and
songs which better become the inmates of Pandemo-
nium, than those of the counting-house, the college,
or the chapel ! If there be within the limits of any
of our cities or towns, scenes which answer to this
horrid picture, let ' it not be told in Gath, or pub-
lished in the streets of Askelon,' lest the fiends of
the pit should rejoice ; — lest the demons of dark-
ness should triumph.

Section XI. On Dress.

The object of dress is fourfold : 1st. It is de-
signed as a covering ; 2d. As a means of wannth ;
3d. As a defence ; 4th. To improve our appearance.

These purposes of dress should all be consider-
ed; and in the order here presented. That dress,
which best answers all these purposes combined,
both as respects the material and the form or fash-
ion, is unquestionably the best and most appro-
priate. It is certainly true tliat the impressions
which a pei*son's first appearance makes upon the
minds of those around him ai-e deep and permanent,

7

74 THE YOUNG MAi:'s GUIDE.

Fashion. Cleanliness. Mistake of vanity corrected.

and the subject should receive a measure of our at-
tention, on this account. It is only a slight tax which
we pay for the benefits of living in civilized society.
When, however, we sacrifice every thing else to
appeai'ance, we commit a very great error. We
make that first in point of importance, which ought
to be fourth.

Let your dress be as cheap as may be without
shabbiness, and endeavor to be neither first nor
last in a fashion. Think more about the cleanli-
ness, than the gloss or texture of your clothes. Be
always as clean as your occupation will permit ; but
never for one moment believe that any human
being, who has good sense, will love or respect you
merely on account of a fine or costly coat.

Extravagance in the haunting of play-houses^
in Jiorses, in every thing else, is to be avoided, but
in young men, extravagance in dress particularly.
This sort of exti'avagance, this waste of money on
the decoration of the body, ai'ises solely from vanity,
and fi'om vanity of the most contemptible sort.
It arises from the notion, that all the people in the
street, for instance, will be looking at you, as soon
as you walk out ; and that they will, in a greater or
less degree, think the better of you on account of
your fine dress.

Never was a notion more false. 3Iany sensible
people, that happen to see you, will think nothing
at all about you : those who ai'e filled with the same
vain notion as you are, will perceive your attempt

ON DRESS. 75

Gr«neral rule for dress. Females not deceived by it.

to impose on tliem, and despise it. Rich people
will wholly disregard you, and you will be envied
and hated by those who have the same vanity that
you have, without the means of gratifying it

Dress should be suited, in some measiu-e, to our
condition. A surgeon or physician need not dress
exactly like a carpenter; but, there is no reason
why any body should dress in a very expensive
manner. It is a great mistake to suppose, that they
derive any advantage fi'om exterior decoration.

For after all, men are estimated by other men
according to their capacity and wilhngness to be in
some way or other useful; and, though, with the
foolish and vain part of women, fine clothes fre-
quently do something, yet the gi-eater pait of the
sex are much too penetrating to draw their conclu-
sions solely from tlie outside a[)pearance. They
look deeper, and find other criterions whereby to
judge. Even if fine clothes should obtain you a
wife, will they bring you, in that wife, frugality^
good sense, and that kind of attachment which is
likely to be lusting ?

Natural beauty of person is quite another thing:
this always has, it always will and must have, some
weight even with men, and great weight with
women. But, this does not need to be set off by
expensive clothes. Female eyes are, in such cases,
discerning; they can discover beauty though sur-
rounded by rags: and, take this as a secret worth
half a fortune to you, that women, however vain
they may be themselves, despise vanity in men.

76 THE TODNG MAN's GUIDE.
Extremes. The golden mean. Error corrected.

Section XII. Bashfulness and Modesty.

Dr. Young says, 'The man that blushes is not
quite a brute.' This is undoubtedly true ; yet
nothing is more clear, as Addison has shown us,
than that a person may be both bashful and impu-
dent.

I know the world commend the former quality,
and condemn the latter; but I deem them both
evils. Perhaps the latter is the greater of the two.
The proper medium is true modesty. This is
always commendable.

We are compelled to take the world, in a great
measure, as it is. We can hardly expect men to
come and buy our wares, unless we advertise or
expose them for sale. So if we would commend
ourselves to the notice of our fellow men, we must
set ourselves up, — not for something which we
are not ; — but for what, upon a careful exammation,
we find reason to think we are. Many a good and
valuable man has gone through this life, without
being properly estimated ; fi'om the • vain belief
that true merit could not always escape unnoticed.
This belief, after all, is little else but a species of
fatalism.

By setting oureelves up, 1 do not mean puffing
and pretending, or putting on au:s of haughtiness
or arrogance ; or any affectation whatever. But
there are those — and some of them are persons

bashful>t:ss and modesty. H

injurious effects of bashfulness. The happy mean.

of good sense, in many respects, who can scai'cely
answer properly, when addi*essed, or look the per-
son with whom they ai-e convei-shig in the face;
and who oflen render themselves ridiculous for
fear they shall he so. I have seen a man of respect-
able talents, who, in conversation never raised his
eyes higher than the tassels of his fiiend's boots ;
and another who could never converse without
turning half or three quarters round, so as to pre-
sent his shoulder or the backside of his head, instead
of a ])lain, honest face.

I have known young men injured by bash-
fulness. It is vain to say that it should not be so.
The world is not what it should be, in many re-
spects; and I must insist that it is our duty, to take
it as it is, in order to make it better, or even in order
to live in it with comfort. He that thinks he shall
not, most surely will not, ])lease, A man of sense,
and knowledge of the world, will assert his own
rights, and pursue his own purposes as steadily
and uninterruptedly as the most impudent man
living ; but tlien there is at the same time an air of
modesty in all he does; while an overbearing or
impudent manner of doing the same things, would
undoubtedly have given offence. Hence a certain
wise man has said; 'He who knows the world will
not be too bashful ; and he who knows hijnself will
never be impudent*

Perpetual embarrassment in company or in con-
versation, is sometimes even construed into mean-
7*

78 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Awkwardness. Eccentricities. Little tilings. Good-breeding.

ness. Avoid, — if you can do it, without too great
a sacrifice — every appeai*ance of deserving a chai'ge
so wei£rht\^

Section XIII. Politeness and Good- Breeding.

Awkwardness is scarcely more tolerable than
baslifuluess. It must proceed from one of two
things ; either from not having kept good company,
or fi-om not having derived any benefit fi-om it.
Many very worthy people have certain odd tricks,
and ill habits, that excite a prejudice agamst them,
which it is not easy to overcome. Hence the im-
portance of good-hrceding.

Now there are not a few who despise all these
little things of life, as they call them ; and yet much
of their lives is taken up with them, small as they
are. And since these self same little things camiot
be dispensed with, is it not better that they should
be done in the easiest, and at the same time the
pleasantest manner possible ?

There is no habit more difficult to attain, and few
so necessaiy to possess, as perfect good-breeding.
It is . equally inconsistent with a stiff formality, an
impertinent forwardness, and an awkward bashful-
ness. True Christian education would seem to
include it; and yet unfoitimately. Christians are
not always polite.

Is it not surprising that we may sometimes ob-
serve, in mere men of the world, that kind of car-

GOOD-BREEDING. 79

Christian politeness. Calling things by wrong names. Pedantry.

riage which should naturally be expected from an
individual thoroughly imbued with the spirit of
Christianity, while his ven,' neighbors, who are pro-
fessing Chi-istians, appeal-, by their conduct, to be
destitute of such a spirit .' Which, then, in practice
(I mean so far as this fact is concerned) are the best
Christians ? But I know what will be the answer ;
and I know that these things ought not so to be.

No good reason can be given why a Christian
should not be as well-bred as his neighbor. It is
difficult to conceive how a pei*son can follow the
rules given in the Sermon on the 3Iount, without
being, and showing himself to be, well-bred. I
have even kno\vn men who were no friends to the
bible, to declare it as theu* unequivocal belief that
he whose life should conform to the principles of
that sermon, could not avoid being truly polite.

There are not a few who confound good-breeding
with affectation, just as they confound a reasonable
attention to dress with fopper}^ This calling things
by wrong names is very common, how much soever
it may be lamented.

Good-breeding, or true pohteness, is the art of
showing men, by external signs, the uitemal regard
we have for them. It arii'^es from good sense, im-
proved by good company. Good-breeding is never
to be learned, though it may be improved^ by the
study of books; and therefore they who attempt it,
appear stiff and pedantic. The really well-bred, as
they become so by use and observation, are not

80 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Kind feelings. Good breeding opposed to selfishness.

liable to affectation. You see good-breeding in all
they do, without seeing the art of it. Like other
habits, it is acquired by practice.

An engaging manner and genteel address may be
out of our power, although it is a misfortune that it
should be so. But it is in the power of every body
to be kind, condescending, and affable. It is in the
power of every person who has any thing to say to
a fellow being, to say it with kind feelings, and with
a sincere desire to please ; and this, whenever it is
done, will atone for much awkwardness in the man-
ner of expression. Forced complaisance is foppery ;
and Eiffected easiness is ridiculous.

Good-breeding is, and ought to be, an amiable
and persuasive thing ; it beautifies the actions and
even the looks of men. But the grimace of good-
breeding is not less odious.

In short, good-breeding is a forgetting of ourselves
so far as to seek what may be agi'eeable to others,
but in so artless and delicate a manner as will scarce-
ly allow them to perceive that we are so employed ;
and the regarding of ourselves, not as the centre of
motion on which evei*y thing, else is to revolve, but
only as one of the wheels or parts, m a vast machine,
embracing other wheels and parts of equal, and per-
haps more than equal importance. It is hence utter-
ly opposed to selfishness, vanity, or pride. Nor is it
proportioned to the supposed riches and rank of
him whose favor and patronage you would gladly
cultivate ; but extends to all. It knows how to con-

GOOD-BREEDING. 81

Ten rules for governing our conversation.

tradict with respect; and to please, without adu-
lation.

The following are a few plain directions for at-
taining the character of a well-bred man.

1. Never weaiy your company by talking too
long, or too fi-equently.

2. Always look people in the face when you
address them, and generally when they are speak-
ing to you.

3. Attend to a person who is addressmg you.
Inattention marks a trifling mind, and is a most un-
pardonable piece of rudeness. It is even an affront;
for it is the same thmg as saying that his remarks
are not xcorth your attention.

4. Do not inteiTupt the person who is s])eaking
by saying yes^ or no, or hem, at every sentence ; it
is the most useless thing that can be. An occa-
sional assent, either by word or action, may be well
enough ; but even a nod of assent is sometimes
repeated till it becomes disgusting.

5. Remember that every person in a company
likes to be the hero of that company. Never, there-
fore, engross the whole conversation to yourself.

6. Learn to sit or stand still, while another is
speaking to you. You will not of course be so
rude as to dig in the earth with your feet, or take
your penknife from your pocket and pair your nails ;
but there are a gi-eat many other little movements
which are scarcely less clownish.

7. Never anticipate for another, or help him out.

82 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Forming good habits. Planning the business of the day.

as it is called. This is quite a rude affair, and
should ever be avoided. Let him conclude his
story for himself. It is time enough for you to
make corrections or additions afterward, if you
deem his account defective. It is also a piece of
impoliteness to inten-upt another in his remarks.

8. Say as little of yourself and your friends as
possible.

9. Make it a rule never to accuse, without due
consideration, any body or association of men.

10. Never try to appear more wise or learned
than the rest of the company. Not that you should
affect ignorance ; but endeavor to remaiii wdthuJ
your own proper sphere.

Section XIV. Personal Habits.

I have elsewhere spoken of the importance of
early rising. Let me merely request you, in this
place, to form a habit of this kind, from which no
ordmary circumstances shall suffer you to depart.
Your fii*st object after rising and devotion, should
be to take a sui-vey of the business which lies
before you during the day, makuig of course a
suitable allowance for exigencies. I have seldom
known a man in business thrive — and men of
business we all ought to be, whatever may be our
occupation — who did not rise early in the morn-
ing, and plan his work for the day. Some of those
who have been most successful, made it a point tc»

PERSONAL HABITS. 83

Gowns and slippers. The Divine rule. Looking glasses.

have this done before daylight Indeed, I was
intimately acquainted with one man who laid out
tlie business of the day, attended fajnily worship,
and breakfasted before sunrise ; and this too, at all
seasons of the year.

3Iorning go^^^ls and slippers are very useful
things, it is said. But the reasons given for their
utility are equally in favor of alicays wearing them.
*They are loose and comfortable.' Very well:
Should not our dress always be loose.' 'They
save other clothes.^ Then why not wear them all
day long ? The truth, after all, is, that they are
fashionahle, and as we usually give the inie reason
for a thing last, this is probably the principal rea-
son why they are so much in use. I am pretty
well convinced, however, that they are of little real
use to him who is determined to eat his bread 'in
the sweat of his face,' according to the Divine ap-
pointment.

Looking-glasses are useful in their place, but
like many other conveniences of life, by no means
indispensable ; an<l so much abused, that a man of
sense would almost be tempted, for the sake of
example, to lay them aside. Of all wasted time,
none is more foolishly wasted than that which \a
employed in unnecessary looking at one's own
jiretty face.

This may seem a matter of small consequence ;
but nothing can be of small importance to which
we are obliged to attend every day. If we dressed

84 THE YOUNG MAJv's GUIDE.

Sir John Sinclair. Shaving. Usual parade about it.

or shaved but once a year, or once a month, the
case would be altered ; but this is a piece of work
that must be done once every day ; and, as it may
cost only about five minutes of time, and may be,
and fiequently is, made to cost thirty, or even fifiy
minutes; and, as only fifteen minutes make about
a fiftieth part of the hours of our average day-
light ; this being the case, it is a matter of real im-
portance.

Sir John Sinclair asked a friend whether he
meant to have a son of his (then a little boy)
taught Latin ? ' No,' said he, ' but I mean to do
something a great deal better for him.' ' What is
that?' said Sir John. 'Why,' said the other, '1
mean to teach him to shave with cold water, and
without a glass.''

My readers may smile, but I can assure them
that Sir John is not alone. There are many others
who have adopted this practice, and found it highly
beneficial. One individual, who had tried it for
years, has the following spirited remarks on the
subject.

' Only think of the mconvenience . attending the
common practice ! There must be hot water ; to
have this there must be a fire, and, in some cases,
a fire for that purpose alone ; to have these, there
must be a servant, or you must light a fire your-
self For the want of these, the job is put off
until a later hour: this causes a stripping and anoth-
er dressing bout: or, you go in a slovenly state all

PERSONAL, HABITS. 85

Evils of morning delays. Dress at once, for the day.

that daj^, and the next day the thing must be done,
or cleanliness must be abandoned altogether. If
you are on a journey, you must wait the pleasure
of the serv'ants at the inn before you can dress and
set out in the morning ; the pleasant time for ti'av-
elling is gone before you can move from the
spot : instead of being at the end of your day's
journey in good time, you are benighted, and have
to endure all the great inconveniences attendant
on tai'dy movements. And ail this from the ap-
parently insignificant affair of shaving. How many
a piece of important business has failed from a
short delay ! And how many thousand of such de-
lays daily proceed from this unwoithy cause ! '

These remarks are especially unportant to those
persons in boarding-houses and elsewhere, for
whom hot water, if they use it, must be expressly
prepared.

Let me urge you never to say I cannot go, or do
such a thmg, till I am shaved or dressed. Take
care always to be shaved and dressed, and then you
will always be ready to act. But to this end the
habit must be fomied in early life, and pertina-
ciously adhered to.

There are those who can tnily say that to the
habit of adhering to the principles which have
been laid down, they owe much of their success
in life ; that however sober, discreet, and abstment
they might have been, they never could have ac-
complished much without it. We should suppose

8

86 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Experience of an officer in the army. An anecdote.

by reasoning beforehand, that the army could not
be very favorable to steady habits of this or any
other kind; yet the following is the testimony of
one who had made the trial.

' To the habit of early rismg and husbanding my
time well, more than to any other thing, I owed
my very extraordmary promotion in the army. 1
was always ready. If I had to moimt guard at ttn^
I was ready at nine: never did any man, or any
thing, wait one moment for me. Being, at an age
under twenty years, raised fi*om corporal to sergeant
major at once, over the heads of thirty sergeants, I
should naturally have been an object of envy and
hati-ed ; but this habit of early rising really subdued
these passions.

'Before my promotion, a clerk was wanted to
make out the morning report of the regiment. I
rendered the clerk unnecessary; and, long before
any other man was dressed for the parade, my
work for the morning was all done, and I myself
was on the parade ground, walking, in fine weather,
for an hour perhaps.

' My custom was this : to get up, in summer, at
day-light, and in winter at four o'clock; shave,
dress, even to the putting of my sword-belt- over
my shoulder, and having my sword lying on the
table before me, ready to hang by my side. Then
I ate a bit of cheese, or pork, and bread. Then I
prepared my report, which was filled up as fast as
the companies brought me in the materials. After

PERSONAL HABITS. 87

Ston concluded. Reflections. Shaving with cold water.

this, I had an hour or two to read, before tlie time
came for any dutj' out of doors, unless when the
regiment, or pait of it, went out to exercise m the
morning. When this was the case, and the matter
was left to me, I always had it on the gi'ouud in
such time as that the bayonets glistened in the
rising sun ; a sight which gave me dehglit, of which
I often think, but which I should in vain endeavoi
to describe.

' If the officers were to go out, eight or ten o'clock
was the hour. Sweating men in the heat of the
day, or breaking in upon the time for cooking their
dinner, puts all things out of order, and all men
out of humor. When I was commander, the men
had a long day of leism-e before them : they could
ramble into the town or into the woods ; go to get
raspberries, to catch birds, to catch fish, or to pur-
sue any otlier recreation, and such of them as
chose, and were qualified, to work at tlieir trades.
So that here, aiising solely from the early habits
of one very young man, were pleasant and happy
days given to hundreds.'

For my own pai-t, I confess that only a few years
since, I should have laughed heartily at some of
these views, especially the cold w^ater system of
shaving. But a friend whom I esteemed, and who
shaved with cold water, said so much in its favor
that I ventured to make the trial ; and I can truly
say that I would not return to my fonner slavery
to hot water, if I had a servant who had nothing

88 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Effects of warm water. Extreme attention to cleanliness.

else to do but furaish it. I caimot indeed say with
a recent writer (I think in the Journal of Health)
that cold water is a great deal better than warm ;
but I can and do say that it makes little if any
difference with me which I use ; though on going
out into the cold air inmiediately afterward, the
skin is more likely to chap after the use of warm
water than cold. Besides I think the use of warm
water more likely to produce eruptions on the skin.
— Sometimes, though not generally, I shave, like
Sii* John Sinclair, without a glass; but I would
never be enslaved to one, convenient as it is.

Section XV. Bathing and Cleanliness.

Cleanlmess of the body has, some how or other,
such a connection with mental and moral purity,
(whether as cause or effect — or both — I will not
undertake now to determine) that I am unwillmg
to omit the present opportunity of urging its impor-
tance. There are those who are so attentive to this
subject as to wash their whole bodies in water,
eitlier cold or warm, every day of the year ; and never
to wear the same clothes, during the day, that they
have slept m the previous night. Now this liabit
may by some be called whimsical; but I think it
deserves a better name. 1 consider this extreme, if it
ought to be called an extreme, as vastly more safe
than the common extreme of neglect.

Is it not shameful — would it not be, were human

ON LITTLE THINGS. 89

Soapajid water plentiful and cheap. Cold bathing. Little things.

duty properly understood — to pass montlis, and
even yeai*s, without wasliing the whole body once ?
There are thousands and tens of thousands of both
sexes, who are exceedingly nice, even to fastidious-
ness, about externals; — who, like those mentioned
in the gospel, keep clean the '•outside of the cup
and the platter,' — but alas ! how is it within.^ Not
a few of us, — living, as we do, in a land where
soap and water are abundant and cheap — would
blush, if the whole stor}^ were told.

This chapter, if extended so fai* as to embrace the
whole subject of cleanliness of person, dress, and
apartments, and cold and warm bathing, would
alone fill a volume ; a volume too, which, if well
prepared, would be of gi-eat value, especially to all
young men. But my present limits do not permit
of any thing farther. In regard to cold bathing,
however, allow me to refer you to two articles in
the third volume of the Annals of Education, pages
315 and 344, which contain the best dii'ections I can
give on this subject.

Section XVI. On Little Things.

There are many things which, viewed without
any reference to prevailing habits, manners, and
customs, appear utterly unworthy of attention;
and yet, after all, much of our happiness will be
found to depend upon thenL We are to remember
that we Uve — not alone, on the earth — but among

90 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Ceremonies of life not wholly useless. A great mistake.

a multitude, each of whom claims, and is entitled
to his own estimate of things. Now it often hap-
pens that what we deem a little thing, another, who
views the subject differently, will regard as a matter
of importance.

Among the items to which I refer, are many of
the customaiy salutations and civilities of life ; and
the modes of dress. Now it is perfectly obvious that
many common phrases which are used at meeting
and separating, durmg the ordinaiy interviews and
concerns of life, as well as in correspondence, are
in themselves wholly unmeaning. But viewed as
an introduction to things of more importance, these
little words and phrases at the opening of a conver-
sation, and as the language of hourly and daily
salutation, are certainly useful. They are indica-
tions of good and friendly feeling ; and without
them we should not, and could not, secure the con-
fidence of some of those among whom we are
obliged to live. They would regard us as not only
unsocial, but selfish ; and not only selfish, but proud
or misanthropic.

On account of meeting with much that disgusts
us, many are tempted to avoid society generally.
The fi'ivolous conversation, and still more frivolous
conduct, which they meet with, they regard as a
waste of time, and perhaps even deem it a duty to
resign themselves to solitude. This, however, is a
great mistake. Those who have been most useful
to mankind acted very differently. They mingled

ON LITTLE THINGS. 91

Example of Christ. Zimmerman's views. Externals

with the world, in hopes to do something towards
reforming it. The greatest of philosophers, as well
as of Christiaus ; — even the Fou.xder of Christi-
anity himself — sat down, and not only sat down,
but ate and drank in the societj'^ of those with whose
manners, and especially whose vice%, he could have
had no possible sympathy.

Zimmerman, who has generally been regarded
as an apostle of solitude, taught that men ought
not to ' reside in deserts, or sleep, like owls, in the
hollow trunks of trees.' ' I sincerely exhort my
disciples,' says he, ' not to absent themselves mo-
rosely from public places, nor to avoid tlie social
throng ; which cannot fail to afford to judicious,
rational, and feeling minds, many subjects both of
amusement and instruction. It is true, that we
cannot relish the pleasures and taste the advantages
of societ}', without being able to give a patient
hearing to the tongue of folly, to excuse error, and
to bear with infinnity.'

In like manner, we are not to disregard wholly,
our dress. It is true that the shape of a hat, or
the cut of a coat may not add to the strength of
the mind, or the soundness of the morals ; but it is
also true that people form an opinion of us from
our exterior appearance ; and will continue to do
so : and first hnpressions are very difficult to be
overcome. If ^ve regard our own usefulness, there-
fore, we shall not consider the fashion or character
of our dress as a little thing in its results. I have

92 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

A paradox. Guard well the lips. Beginning of wo.

said elsewhere that we ought neither to be the first
nor the last in a fashion.

We should remember, also, that the world, in
its various parts and aspects, is made up of little
things. So true is this, that I have somethnes been
veiy fond of the paradoxical remai-k, that ' httle
things are great things ; ' that is, in their results.
For who does not know that throughout the physi-
cal world, the mightiest results are brought about
by the silent working of small causes ? It is not
the tornado, or the deluge, or even the occasional
storm of rain, that renews and animates nature,
so much as the gentle breeze, the soft refi-eshing
shower, and the still softer and gentler dews of
heaven.

So in human life, generally, they are the little
things often, that produce the mightier results. It is
he who takes care of pence and farthings, not he who
neglects them, that thrives. It is he alone who
guards his lips against the fii-st improper word, —
trifling as it may seem — ^that is secure against future
profanity. He who indulges one little, draught of
alcoholic drink, is in danger of endmg a tippler ;
he who gives loose to one impure thought, of end-
ing the victim of lust and sensuality. Nor is it
one single gross, or as it were accidental act, view-
ed as msulated from the rest — however injurious
it may be — that injures the body, or debases the
mind, so much as the frequent repetition of those
smaller eiTors, whose habitual occurrence goes to

OF A>'GER. 93

A pernicious error. The first steps to anger.

establish the predominating choice of tlie mind, or
affection of the soul.

Avoid then, the pernicious, the fatal error, tliat
little things are of no consequence : little sums of
money, little fragments of time, little or ti'ifling
words, little or apparently unimportant actions. On
this subject I cannot help cidopting — and feeling its
force too, — the language of a friend of temperance
in regard to those who think themselves perfectly
secure fi'om danger, and are behevers in the harm-
lessness of little things. 'I tremble,' said he, 'for
the man that does not tremble for himself '

Section XVII. Of Anger^ and the means of re-
straining it.

There is doubtless much difference of native tem-
perament. One person is easily excited, another,
more slowly. But there is a greater difference still,
resulting from our habits.

If we find ourselves easily led into anger, we
should be extremely careful how we indulge the
first steps that lead towards it. Those who natural-
ly possess a mild temper may, with considerable
safet}', do and say many things which others can-
not TliLis we often say of a person who has met
with a misfortune, 'It is good enough for hhn;'
or of a criminal who has just been condemned to
suffer punishment, ' No matter ; he deserves it'
Or perhaps we go farther, and on finding him ac-

94 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Nature of anger. Cruelty to animals. Mild tones of voice.

quitted, say, ' He ought to have been hanged, and
even hanging was too good for him.'

Now all these thmgs, in the mouths of the utI-
table, lead the way to an indulgence of anger, how-
ever un perceived may be the transition. It is on
tliis prmciple that the saying of St. John is so
strikingly true; 'He that hateth his brother is a
murderer;' that is, he that mdulges hatred has the
seeds within hun, not only of out-breaking anger,
but of murder.

It is on tliis account that I regret the common
com'se taken with children in relation to certain
smaller tribes of the animal creation. They are
allowed not only to destroy them, — (which is
doubtless often a duty,) but to destroy them in
anger; to mdulge a permanent hatred towards
them ; and to think this hatred creditable and scrip-
tural. When such feelings lead us to destroy even
the most troublesome or disgusting reptiles or
insects, in anger, we have so far prepared the way
for the indulgence of anger towards our fellow
creatures, whenever their conduct shall excite our
displeasure.

We can hence see why he who has a violent
temper should always speak in a low voice,, imd
study mildness and sweetness in his tones. For
loud, impassioned, and boisterous tones certainly
excite impassioned feelings. So do all the actions
which indicate anger. Thus Dr. Darwin has said
that any individual, by using the language and ac-

OF ANGER. 95

We may work ourselves into a rage. Quaker anecdote.

tions of an angiy person, towards an imaginaiy
object of displeasure, and accompanying them by
tlireats, and blows, with a doubled or clmched fist,
may easily work himself into a rage. Of the justice
of this opinion I am fiilly convinced, fi'om actual
and repeated experiments.

If we find om-selves apt to be angry, we should
endeavor to avoid the road which leads to it. The
first thing to be done, is to govern om- voice. On
this point, the story of the Quaker and tlie merchant
aiay not be uninstnjctive.

A merchant in London had a dispute with a
Quaker gentleman about the settlement of an ac-
count. The merchant was determined to bring
the action into court, — a course of proceeding to
which the Quaker was wholly opposed; — he
therefore used eveiy argument in his power to con-
vince the merchant of his error ; but all to no pur-
pose.

Desu'ous of making a final effort, however, the
Quaker called at the house of the merchant, one
morning, and inquh-ed of the servant if his master
was at home. The merchant hearing the inquiry
fi'om the top of the stau'S, and knowing the voice,
called out, loudly, 'Tell that rascal I am not at
home.' The Quaker, looking up towards him,
said calmly ; ' Well, fi-iend, may God put thee in a
better mind.'

The merchant was stiaick with the meekness of
the reply, and after thinking more deliberately of

96 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Rules for overcoming a bad temper. Story of Zimmerman.

the matter, became convinced tliat the Quaker was
right, and he in the wrong. He requested to see
him, and after acknowledgmg his error, said, 'I
have one question to ask you. How were you able
to bear my abuse with so much patience ? '

'Friend,' rephed the Quaker, 'I will tell thee.
I was naturally as hot and violent as thou art. Bui
I knew that to indulge my temper was sinful, and
also very foolish. I observed that men in a pas-
sion always spoke veiy loud ; and I thought if 1
could conti'ol my voice, I should keep down my
passions. I therefore made it a rule never to let it
rise above a certam key ; and by a careful observ-
ance of this rule, I have, with the blessing of God,
entu'ely mastered my natural temper.'

When you are tempted by the conduct of those
around you, to be angiy, endeavor to consider the
matter for a few moments. If your temper be so
impetuous that you find this highly difficult, you
may adopt some plan or device for gaining time.
Some recommend counting twenty or thhly, de-
liberately. The following anecdote of the cele-
brated Zimmerman is exactly in point, and may
aiford usefiil hints for instruction.

Owing in pait to a diseased state of body, Zim-
meiTTian was sometimes u'ritable. One day, a
Russian princess and several other ladies entered
his apartment to mquire after his health ; when, in
a fit of petulance, he rose, and requested them to
leave the room. The prince entered some time

OF ANGER. 97

The Lord's prayer. Reasons for being slow to anger.

afterwai'd, when Zimmerman had begun to repent
of his rashness, and after some intervening conver-
sation, advTsed him, whenever he felt a disposition
to treat his friends so uncivilly again, to repeat,
mentally, the Lord's prayer. This advice was fol-
lowed, and with success. Not long afterward the
same prince came to him for advice in regai'd to
the best manner of controlling the violence of tliose
transports of affection towards his yoimg and amia-
ble consort, in which young and happy lovei-s are
so apt to mdulge. ' My dear friend,' said Zimmer-
man, ' there is no expedient which can sui-pass your
own. Whenever you feel yourself overborne by
passion, you have only to repeat the Lord's prayer,
and you will be able to reduce it to a steady and
permanent flame.'

By adopting Zimmennan's rule, we shall, as 1
have already observed, gain time for reflection,
than which nothing more is needed. For if the
cause of anger be a report, for example, of injury
done to us by an absent person, either in words or
deeds, how do we know the report is true? Or it
may be only partly true; and how do we know,
till we consider the matter well, whether it is worth
our anger at all ? Or if at all, perhaps it deserves
but a little of it. It may be, too, that the person
who said or did the thing reported, did it by mis-
take, or is already sorry for it. At all events,
nothing can be gamed by haste ; much may be by
delay.

98 THE YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

Anger a disease. Avoid railing, — and revenge.

If a passionate person give you ill language, you
ought rather to pity than be angiy with him, for
anger is a species of disease. And to coiTect one
evil, wilj you make another ? If his being angry
is an evU, will it mend the matter to make another
evil, by indulging in passion yourself? Will it
cure his disease, to throw yourself into the same
distemper.? But if not, then how foolish is it to
indulge improper feelings at all !

On the same principles, and for the same rea-
sons, you should avoid returning railing for rail-
ing ; or reviling for reproach. It only kindles the
more heat. Besides, you will often find sUence, or
at least very gentle words, as in the case of the
Quaker just mentioned, the best return for re-
proaches which could be devised. I say the best
' return ; ' but I would not be understood as justi-
fying any species of revenge. The kmd of return
here spoken of is precisely that treatment which
will be most likely to cure the distemper in the
other, by making him see, and be sorry for, his
passion.

If the views taken in this section be true, it is
easy, to see the consummate folly of all violence,
whether between , individuals or collective bodies;
whether it be by striking, duelling, or war. For if
an individual or a nation has done wrong, wUl it
annihilate that wrong to counteract it by another
wrong ? Is it not obvious that it only makes two
evils, where but one existed before.? And can

OF ANGER. 99

Unreasonableness of resisting evil. The Scripture rule.

two UTongs ever make one right action ? AVliich
is tlie most rational, when the choice is in our
power, to add to one existmg evil, another of similar
or greater magnitude ; or to keep quiet, and let the
world have but one cup of misery instead of two?

Besides, the language of Scripture is eue/T/ ivhere
full and decided on this point. ' Recompense to no
man evil for evil,' and ' wo to him by whom the
offence cometh,' though found but once or twice
in just so many words, are in fact, some of the more
prominent doctiines of the New Testament ; and I
very much doubt whether you can read many
pages, in succession, in any part of tlie bible, with-
out finding this great principle enforced. The daily
example of the Saviour, and the apostles and early
Christians, is a full confirmation of it, in practice.

CHAPTER II.

©n tje J^anaflemcnt of 33usiness.

Section 1. On commencins: Business.

to

Young men are usually iii haste to commenco
business for themselves. This is an evil, and one
which appeal's to me to be increasing. Let me
caution my readers to be on their guard against it.

The evils of running in debt will be adverted to
elsewhere. I mention the subject in this place,
because the earlier you commence business, the
greater the necessity of resorting to credit. You
may, indeed, in some employments, begin on a very
small scale ; but this is attended with serious disad-
vantages, especially at the present day, when you
must meet with so much competition. Perhaps a
few may be furnished with capital by their fi-iends,
or by inheritance. In the latter case they may as
well use their money, if they receive it ; but I have
already endeavored to show that it is generally for
the mterest of young men to rely upon then* own
exertions. It is extremely difficult for a person
who has ever rehed on others, to act with the same
energy as those who have been throwD upon their

COftlMENCING BUSINESS. 101

Inbenting property, an evil. Self-dependence. Examples.

own resources.* To learn the art of inlieriting
property or receiving large gifts, and of acting
with the same energy as if left whoUy to out own
resources, must be reserved, I believe, for future
and wiser generations of our race.

I repeat it, tlierefore, every pei*son had better de-
fer going into business for himself, mitil he can
stand entirely on his own footing. Is it asked how
he can have funds fi*om his o\vn resources, before
he has actually commenced business for himself?
Why the thing is perfectly easy. He has only to
labor a few years in the service of another. Tiaie it
is, he may receive but moderate wages during this
time ; but on the other hand, he will be subjected
to Uttle or no risk.

Let 1000 young men, at the age of 30 years, enter
into business with a given amount of capital, all
acquired by their own hard earnings, and let them
pursue their business 30 years faithfully ; that is,
till they are 60 years of age. Let 1000 others com-
mence at the age of 20, with three times the amount
of capital possessed by the former, but at the same
time either inherited, or loaned by their friends,
and let them pursue their calling tiU they are 60
years of age ; or for a period of 40 years. We will

•This fact, so obvious to evei-y student of human nature,
has sometimes given rise to an opinion that orphans make
their way best in the world. So far as tlie business of ma-
king money is concerned, I am not sure but it is so.
9*

102 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Testimony of facts. In the U. States generally. In Boston.

suppose the natural talents, capacity for doing busi-
ness, and expenditures — in fact eveiy thing, — the
same, in both cases. Now it requires no gift of
prophecy to foretell, with certainty, that at 60 years
of age a far greater proportion of the 1000, who
began at 30 and depended solely on their o^^ii ex-
ertions, will be men of wealth, than of those who
began at 20 with three times their capital. The
reason of these results is found in the very nature
of things, as I have shown both above, and in my
remarks on industry.

But these views are borne out by facts. Go into
any city in the United States, and learn the history
of the men who are engaged in active and profita-
ble business, and are thriving m the world, and my
word for it, you will find the far greater part began
life with nothing, and have had no resources what-
ever but their own head and hands. And in no
city is this fact more strikingly verified than in
Boston. On the other hand, if you make a list of
those who fail in business fi*om year to year, and
learn theu' history, you will find that a very large
proportion of them relied on inheritances, credit,
or some kind of foreign aid in early life ; — and not
a few begun very young.

There is no doctrine in this volume, which will
be more unpopular with its readei-s, than this. Not
a few will, 1 fear, utterly disbelieve it. They look
at the exterior appearance of some young friend, a
tittle older than themselves, who has been Ufled

COMMENCING BUSINESS. 103

Dangers of shipwreck. Caution against the hawk-eyed.

into business aiid gone on a veai- or two. and all
appears fail" and encouraging. They long to imi-
tate hiin. Point them to a dozen others M'ho have
gone only a little farther, and have made shipwreck,
and it weighs nothing or next to nothing with them.
They suspect mismanagement, (which doubtless
sometimes exists) and think they shall act more
wisely.

In almost ever}" considerable shop in this coimtry
may be found young men who have nearly sensed
out their time as apprentices, or perhaps have gone
a little fai-ther, even, and worked a year or two as
journeymen. They have been industrious and fru-
gal, and have saved a few hundi'ed dollars. This,
on the known principles of human nature, has creat-
ed a strong desu'e to make additions ; and the desire
has increased in a greater ratio than the sum.
They are good workmen, perhaps, or if not, they
generally think so; and those who have the least
merit, generally have the most confidence in them-
selves. But if there be one who has merit, there
is usually in the neighborhood some hawk-eyed
money dealer, who knows that he cannot better
invest his funds than m the hands of active young
men. This man will search him out, and offer to
set him up in business ; and his friends, pleased to
have him noticed, give security for payment. Thus
flattered, he commonly begins ; and after long pa-
tience and perseverance, he may, by chance, suc-
ceed. But a much greater number are nnsuccesR

104 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

How many young men reason. Fallacy of such reasoning

fill, and a few drown their cares and perplexities
in the poisoned bowl, or in debauchery ; — perhapa
both — thus destroying then- minds and souls ; or,
it may be, abruptly putting an end to their own
existence.

Young men are apt to reason thus with them-
selves. ' I am now anived at an age when others
have commenced business and succeeded. It is
true I may not succeed ; but I know of no reason
why my prospects are not as good as those of A, B,
and C, to say the least. I am certainly as good a
workman, and know as well how to manage, and
attend to my own concerns, without intermeddling
with those of others. It is true my friends advise
me to work as a journeyman a few years longer;
but it is a hard way of living. Besides, what shall
I leara all this while, that I do not already know ?
They say I shall be improving in the pracHcal part
of my business, if not m the theory of it. But shall
I not improve while I work for myself? Suppose
1 make blunders. Have not others done the same ?
If I fall, I must get up again. Perhaps it will teach
me not to stumble again. The fact is, old people
never think the young know or can do any thing
till they are forty years old. 1 am determined to
make an effort. A good opportunity offers, and
such a one may never again occur. I am confident
I shall succeed.'

How often have I heard this train of reasoning
pursued ! But if it were con-ect, how happens it

COMMENCING BUSINESS. 105

Mistaken notions of the young. Students in medicine.

that tliose facts exist which have just been mention-
ed ? More than this ; why do ahnost all men assert
gratuitously after they have spent twenty years in
their avocation, that although they thought them-
selves wise when they began then* profession, they
were exceedingly ignorant ? Who ever met with a
man that did not feel this ignorance more sensibly
after twenty years of experience, than when he first
commenced ?

This self flattery and self confidence — this am-
bition to be men of business and begin to figure in
the world, — is not confined to any particular oc-
cupation or profession of men, but is found in alL
Nor is it confined to those whose object in life is
pecuniary emolument. It is perhaps equally com-
mon among those who seek their happiness in
ameliorating the condition of mankind by legislating
for them, settling their quairels, soothing their pas-
sions, or curmg the maladies of their souls and
bodies.

Perhaps the evil is not more glaring in any class
of the community than in the medical profession.
There Ls a strong temptation to this, m the facility
with which licenses and diplomas may be obtain-
ed. Any young man who has common sense, if
he can read and write tolerably, may in some of
the States, become a knight of the lancet in three
years, and follow another employment a consider-
able part of the time besides. He has only to de-
vote some of his extra hours to the study of an-

106 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Medical quackery. Students in theology. Their loss of health.

atomy, surgery, and medicine, recite occasionally
to a practitioner, as ignorant, almost, as himself;
hear one series of medical lectures ; and procure
certificates that he has studied medicine 'three
yeai's,' includmg tlie time of the lectures ; and he
will be licensed, almost of course. Then he sallies
foith to commit depredations on society at discre-
tion ; and how many he kills is unknown. ' I take
it for gi'anted, however,' said a President of a Col-
lege, three years ago, who understood this matter
pretty well, ' that eveiy half-educated young physi-
cian, who succeeds at last in gettmg a reputable
share of practice, must have rid the world, rather
prematm-ely, of some dozen or twenty mdividuals,
at the least, in order to quahfy himself for the pro-
fession.'

The evil is scarcely more tolerable, as regards
young ministei-s, except that the community in ge-
neral have better means of knowing when they are
imposed upon by ignorance or quackery in this mat-
ter, than in most other professions. The principal
book for a student of theology is in "the hands of
every individual, and he is taught to read and under-
stand it. The great evil which arises to students
of divinity themselves from entering their profes-
sion too early, is the loss of health. Neither the
minds nor the bodies of young men are equal to
the responsibilities of this, or indeed of any other
profession or occupation, at 20, and rarely at 25.
Nothing is more evident than that young men,

COMMENCING BUSINESS. 107

New views. Examples. The Savior. John Baptist. Timothy.

generally, are losei-s in the end, both m a pecuniary
point of view and in regard to health, by commenc-
ing business before 30 years of age. But this 1
have aheady attempted to shovv^.

As regards candidates for the ministry, several
eminent divines are beginnmg to mculcate the opin-
ion, with great earnestness, that to enter fully upon
the active duties of this laborious vocation before
the age I have mentioned, is injurious to them-
selves and to the cause they wish to promote — the
cause of God. And I hope their voices will be
raised louder and louder on this topic, till the note
of remonstrance reaches the most distant villages
of our countiy.

It has often occurred to me that every modest
young man, whatever may be his destination, might
learn wisdom from consulting the history of the
Young Man of Nazareth as well as of the illus-
trious refonner who prepared the way for him. *
Our young men, since newspapers have become so
common, are apt to think themselves thoroughly
versed in law, politics, divinity, &c. ; and ai-e not
backward to exhibit theu* talents. But who is abler
at disputation than he vvho at twelve years of age
proved a match for the learned doctors of law at
Jerusalem? Did he, whose mind was so mature at
twelve, enter upon the duties of his ministry (a task

* Even Timothy — young Timothy as he has been often
railed — was probably in his SOth year when be was or-
dained.

108 THE YOUNG MAJs's GUIDE.

The great question. Seven years' apprenticeship. Integrity.

more arduous than has ever fallen to the lot of any
human being) at 18 or 20 years of age ? But why
not, when he had so much to do ? — Or did he wait
till he was in his 30th year ?

The gi-eat question with every young man should
not be, When can I get such assistance as will en-
able me to commence business ; — but. Am I well
qualified to commence ? Perfect in his profession,
absolutely so, no man ever will be ; but a measure
of perfection which is rai-ely if ever attained under
30 years of age, is most certainly demanded. To
learn the simplest handicraft employment in some
countries, a person must serve an apprenticeship of
at least seven years. Here, in America, half that
time is thought by many young men an intolerable
burden, and they long to throw it off. They wish
for what they call a better order of things. The con-
sequences of this feeling, and a growing spirit of
msubordmation, are every yeai* becoming more and
more deplorable.

Section II. Importance of Integrity.

Every one will admit the importance of integrity
in all his dealings, for however dishonest he may
be himself, he cannot avoid perceiving the neces-
sity of iiitegrity in others. No society could exist
were it not for the measure of this virtue which
remains. Without a degree of confidence, in trans-
acting business with each other, even the savage life

OF INTEGRITY. 109

Few practise integrity. First steps to fraud. Honesty defined-

would be a thousand times more sas^e than it now
is. Without it, a gang of thieves or robbers could
not long hold togetlier.

But while all admit the sterhug importance of
strict integrity, how few practise it ! Let me pre-
vail when I entreat the young not to hazard either
tlieir reputation or peace of mind for the micertain
advantages to be derived from unfair dealing. It is
madness, especially in one who is just beginning
tlie world. It would be so, if by a single unfair act
lie could get a fortune ; leaving the loss of the soul
out of the question. For if a trader, for example,
is once generally known to be guilty of fraud, or
even of taking exorbitant profits, there is an end to
his reputation. Bad as die world is, tliere is some
respect paid to integrity, and ^^o be to him who
forgets it.

If a person liabitually allows himself in a single
act not sanctioned by the great and golden rule of
loving others as we do ourselves, he has entered a
road whose everlasting progress is downward.
Fraudulent in one point, he will soon be so in
another — and another ; and so on to the end of
the chapter, if there be any end to it. At least no
one who has gone a step in the downward road,
can assure hunself that this will not be the di'eadful
result.

An honest bargain is that only in which the fair

market price or value of a commodity is mutually

allowed, so far as this is known. The market price
10

110 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Market prices. Many sorts of fraud. Concealment.

is usually, the equitable price of a thing. It will be
the object of eveiy honest man to render, in all
cases, an equivalent for what he receives. Where
the market price cannot be known, each of the
parties to an honest contract will endeavor to come
as near it as possible ; keeping in mind the rule of
doing to others as they would deshe others to do to
them in similar circumstances. Every bargain not
formed on these principles is, in its results, unjust ;
and if intentional, is fraudulent.

There are a great many varieties of this species
of fiaud.

1. Concealing the market price. How many do
this ; and thus buy for less, and sell for more than
a fair valuation ! Why so many practise this kind
of fraud, and insist at the same time that it is no
fraud at all, is absolutely inconceivable, except on
the supposition that they ai*e blinded by avarice.
For they perfectly know that their customers would
not deal with them at any other than market prices,
except from sheer ignorance ; and that the advan-
tage which they gain, is gained by misapprehension
of the real value of the commodities. But can an
honest man take this advantage ? Would he take
it of a child ? Or if he did, would not persons of
common sense despise him for it ?

But why not as well take advantage of a child as
of a man ? Because, it may be answered, the child
does not know the worth of what he buys or sells;
but the man does, or might. But in the case spe-

OF INTEGRITl. HI

Misrepresentation. Selling goods which are unsound or defective.

cified, it is evident be does not know it, if be did
he would not make the bargain. And for proof
that such conduct is do\\Tiright fi'aud, the person
who commits it, has only to ask himself whetlier
he would be willing otbei-s should take a similar
advantage of his ignorance. ' I do as I agi'ee,' is
often the best excuse such men can make, when
reasoned with on the injustice of theh conduct,
without deciding the question, whether their agree-
ment is founded on a desire to do right.

2. Others misrepresent the market piice. This
is done in various ways. They heard somebody
say the price in mai-ket was so or so ; or such a one
bought at such or such a price, or another sold at
such a price : all of which prices, purchases, and
sales are known positively to be different fi-om those
which generally prevail. Many contrive to satisfy
their consciences in this way, who would by no
means venture at once upon plain and palpable

lying-

3. Tiie selling of goods or property which is
unsound and defective, under dhect professions that
it is sound and good, is another variety of this
species of fraud. It is sometimes done by direct
lying, and sometimes by indefinite and hypocritical
insinuations. Agents, and retailers often assert
their wares to be good, because those of whom
they have received them declare them to be such.
These declarations are often believed, because the
seller appeai-s or professes to believe them ; while
in truth, he may not give them the least credit.

li2 THE YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

Selling quack medicines. Jockeys. Their apology.

One of the grossest impositions of this kind —
common as it is — is practised upon the public in
advertising and selling nostrums as safe and val-
uable medicines. These are ushered into news-
papei-s with a long ti-ain of pompous declarations,
almost always false, and always delusive. The
silly purchaser buys and uses the medicine chiefly
or solely because it is sold by a respectable man,
under the sanction of advertisements to which that
respectable man lends his countenance. Were
good men to decline this wretched employment,
the medicmes would probably soon fall into abso-
lute discredit ; and health and limbs and life would,
in many instances, be preserved from unnecessary
destruction.

4. Another species of fi-aud consists in conceal-
ing the defects of what we sell. This is the gen-
eral art and villany of that class of men, commonly
called jockeys ; a class which, in reality, embraces
some who would startle at the thought of being
such; — and whole multitudes v/ho would receive
the appellation with disdain.

The common subterfuge of the jockey is, that
he gives no false accounts ; that the purchaser has
eyes of his own, and must judge of the goods
for himself. No defence can be more lame and
wretched ; and hardly any more impudent.

No purchaser can possibly discover many of the
defects in commodities ; he is therefore obliged to
depend on die seller for information concerning

OF INTEGRITY. 113

A lame excuse. ' Beating dusvn.' A tiraelj- caution.

them. All this the seller well knows, and if an
honest man, will give the information. Now as
no purchaser would buy the ai'ticles, if he knew
then- defects, except at a reduced price, whenever
the seller does not give tliis information, and the
purchaser is taken in, it is by downright villany,
whatever some may pretend to the conti*aiy. Nor
will the common plea, that if they buy a bad arti-
cle, they have a right to sell it again as ^vell as
tJiey can, ever justify the ^vi*etched practice of
selling defective goods, at the full value of those
which are more perfect.

5. A fi'aud, stUl meaner, is practised, when we
endeavor to lower the value of such commodities as
we luish to buy. 'It is naught, it is naught, says
the buyer, but when he hath gone his way he
boasteth,' is as applical)le to oiu* tunes, as to those
of Solomon. The ignorant, the modest, and the
necessitous — persons who should be the last to
suffer from fraud, — are, in this way, often made
victims. A decisive tone and confident airs, in
men better dressed, and who are sometimes sup-
posed to know better than themselves, easily bear
down persons so circumstanced, and persuade them
to sell their commodities for less than they are
really worth.

Young shopkeepei-s are often the dupes of this

species of treatment. Partly with a view to secure

the future custom of the stranger, and partly in

consequence of his statements that he can buy a
10*

J 14 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

False weights and measures. This evil avoidable.

similai* article elswhere at a much lower price,
(when perhaps the quality of the other is vastly
inferior) they not unfrequently sell goods at a pos-
itive sacrifice — and what do they gain by it? The
pleasure of being laughed at by the purchaser, as
soon as he is out of sight, for sufFermg themselves
to be heaten down, as the phrase is ; and of having
him boast of his bargain, and trumpet abroad, with-
out a blush, the value of the articles which he hg^d
just been decrying !

6. I mention the use of false weights and meas-
ures last, not because it is a less heinous fraud, but
because I hope it is less frequently practised than
many others. But it is a lamentable truth that
weights and measures are sometimes used when they
are knoion to be false; and quite often when they
are suspected to be so. More fi-equently still, they
are used when they have been permitted to become
defective through inattention. They are often form-
ed of perishable materials. To meet this there are
in most of our communities, ofiicers appointed to
be sealers of weights and measures. When the
latter are made of substances known to be liable to
decay or wear, the proprietor is unpardonable if
he does not have them frequently and thoroughly
examined.

I have only adverted to some of the more com-
mon kinds of fi-aud ; such as the young are daily,
and often hourly exposed to, and against which it
is especially important, not only to their own repu-

OF INTEGRITY. 115

Other sorts of fraud. Thirteen kinds mentioned.

tation, but to their success in business, that they
should be on tlieir guard. I will just enumerate a
few othei-s, for my Hmits preclude the possibihty of
any thing more than a bai*e enumeration.

1. Suffering borrowed articles to be injured by
our negligence. 2. Detainmg them in our posses-
sion longer than the lender had reason to expect.
3. Employing them for purposes not contemplated
by the lender. 4. The returning of an article of
inferior value, although in appearance like that
which was boiTOwed. 5. Passmg suspected bank
bills, or depreciated counterfeit or clipped coin.
Some persons are so conscientious on this point,
that they ^vill sell a clipped piece for old metal,
rather than pass it. But such rigid honesty is rather
rare. 6. The use of pocket money, by the young,
in a manner different fi'om that which was known
to be contemplated by the parent, or master who
furnished it 7. The employment of time in a dif-
ferent manner from what was intended; the mu-
tilating, by hacking, breaking, soilmg, or in any
other manner wantonly injurmg buildings, fences,
and other property, public or private; — and espe-
cially crops and fruit trees. 8. Contracting debts,
though ever so small, without the almost ceitain
prospect of being able to pay them. 9. Neglecting
to pay them at the time expected. 10. Payuig in
something of less value than we ought. 11. Breach-
es of trust. 12. Breaking of promises. 13. Overtrad-
ing by means of borrowed capital.

J]6

THE YOUIVG MAN S GUIDE.

Method in business. Memorandum book. Its use8.

Section III. Method in Business.

There is one class of men who are of mestima-
ble value to society — and the more so from their
scarcity ; — I mean men of biisiness. It is true
you could hardly offer a greater insult to most per-
sons than to say they are not of this class ;
but you cannot have been very observing not to
have learned, that they who most deserve the
charge will think themselves the most insulted by it.

Nothing conti-ibutes more to despatch, as well as
safety and success in business, than method and
regularity. Let a person set down in his memo-
randum book, every morning, the several articles
of business that ought to be done during the day :
and beginning with the fii'st person he is to call
upon, or the first place he is to go to, finish that
affair, if possible, before he begins another ; and so
on with the rest.

A man of business, who observes this method,
will hardly ever find himself hunied or discon-
certed by forge tfulness. And he who sets down
all his transactions in writing, and keeps his ac
counts, and the whole state of his affairs, in a dis-
tinct and accurate order, so that at any time, by
looking into his books, he can see in what condition
his concerns ai-e, and whether he is in a thriving
or declining way; — such a one, I say, deserves
properly the character of a man of business ; and

APPLICATION TO BUSINESS. 117

Anecdote. Much business in little time. Art of thinking well.

has a pretty fair prospect of success in his plans.*
But such exactness seldom suits the man of pleas-
ure. He has other things in his head.

The way to transact a great deal of business in
a little time, and to do it well, is to observe three
rules. 1. Speak to the point. 2. Use no more
words than are necessary, fully to express your
meaning. 3. Study beforehand, and set down m
writing afterwards, a sketch of the transaction.

To enable a person to speak to the point, he
must have acquked, as one essential pre-requisite,
the art of thinking to the point. To effect these
objects, or rather this object, as they constitute in
reality but one, is the legitimate end of the study of
grammar; of the importance of which I am to
speak elsewhere. This branch is almost equally
indispensable in following the other two rules ; but
here, a thorough knowledge of numbers, as weU as
of language, will be demanded.

Section IV. Application to Business*

There is one piece of prudence, above all oth-
ers, absolutely necessary to those who expect to

A gentleman of my acquaintance assures me tliat he
always leaves his books, accounts, &c., in so complete a
state, on going to bed, that if he should die during tlie night,
every thing could be perfectly understood. This rule he
adheres to, as a matter of duty; not only to his fellow men,
but to God.

118 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Perseverance. Example of this kind, from Burgh. Diligence.

raise themselves in the world by an employment
of any kind ; I mean a constant, unwearied appli-
cation to the main pursuit. By means of per-
severing diligence, joined to frugality, we see many
people in the lowegt and most laborious stations in
life, raise themselves to such circumstances as will
allow them, in their old age, that relief from exces-
sive anxiety and toil which are necessary to make
the decline of life easy and comfortable.

Burgh mentions a merchant, who, at first setting
out, opened and shut his shop every day for sev-
eral weeks together, without selling goods to the
value of two cents ; who by the force of application
for a course of years, rose, at last, to a handsome
fortune. But I have known many who had a va-
riety of opportunities for settling themselves com-
fortably in the world, yet, for want of steadiness to
carry any scheme to perfection, they sunk from one
degi'ee of wretchedness to another for many years
together, without the least hopes of ever getting
above distress and pinching want.

There is hardly an employment in life so trifling
that it will not afford a subsistence, if constantly
and faithfully followed. Indeed, it is by indefati-
gable diligence alone, that a fortune can be acquir-
ed in any business whatever. An estate procured
by what is commonly called a lucky hit, is a rare
instance ; and he who expects to have his fortune
made in that way, is about as rational as he who
should neglect all probable means of eammg, in

APPLICATION TO BUSINESS. 119

Necessity of application. Xo useful business mean. Drones.

hopes that he should some time or other find a
treasure.

There is no such thing as continuing in the same
condition without an income of some kmd or other.
if a man does not bestir himself, poverty must,
sooner or later, overtake him. If he continues to
expend for the necessaiy charges of life, and will
not take the pains to gain something to supply the
place of what he deals out, his funds must at length
come to an end ; and the misery of poverty fall
upon him at an age when he is less able to grapple
with it

No employment that is really useful to manl^tind
deserves to be regarded as mean. This has been
a stumbling stone to many young men. Because
they could not pursue a course which they deem-
ed sufficiently respectable, they neglected business
altogether imtil so late in life that they were asham-
ed to make a beginning. A most fatal mistake.
Pin making is a minute affair, but wlQ any one
call the employment a mean one ? If so, it is one
which the whole civilized world encourage, and to
which tliey are under lasting obligation daily. Any
useful business ought to be reputable, which is
reputably followed.

The character of a drone is always, especially
among the human species, one of the most con-
temptible. In proportion to a pei-son's activity for
his own good and that of his fellow creatures, he
is to be regarded as a more or less valuable mem-

120 THE YOUNG MAN's GLIDE.

Idle men not very valuable. Piudential consideration.

ber of society. If all the idle people in the United
States were to be buried m one year, the loss would
be trifling in comparison with the loss of only a
very few industrious people. Each moment of time
ought to be put to proper use, either in business, in
improving the mind, in the innocent and necessary
relaxations and entertainments of life, or in the care
of the moral and rehgious part of our nature. Each
moment of time is, in the language of theology, a
monument of Divine mercy.

Section V. Proper Time of Doing Business.

There are times and seasons for eveiy lawrftil
purpose of life, and a very material part of pru-
dence is to judge rightly, and make the best of
them. If you have to deal, for example, with a
phlegmatic gloomy man, take him, if you can, over
his bottle. This advice may seem, at first view, to
give countenance to a species of fraud ; but is it so ?
These hj^ochondriacal people have their fits and
starts, and if you do not take them when they are
in an agreeable state of mind, you are very likely to
find them quite as much below par, as the bottle
raises them above. But if you deal with them in this
condition, they ai'e no more themselves than in the
former case. I therefore think the advice correct.
It is on the same principles, and in the same behe^
that I would advise you, when you deal with a

PROPER TIME OF BUSINESS. 121

How to meet various sorts of people. A caution.

covetous man, to propose your business to him im-
mediately after he has been receiving, rather than
expending money. So if you have to do with a
drunkard, call on him in the morning ; for tlien, if
ever, his head is clear.

Again ; if you know a person to be unhappy m
Jiis family, meet him abroad if possible, rather than
at his own house. A statesman will not be likely
to give you a favorable reception immediately after
being disappointed in some of his schemes. Some
people ai'e always sour and ill humored from the
hour of rising till they have dined.

And as in persons, so in things, the time is a mat-
ter of great consequence ; an eye to the rise and
fall of goods ; the favorable season of importing
and exporting ; — these are some of the thmgs
which require the attention of tliose who expect
any considerable share of success.

It is not certain but some dishonest person,
under shelter of the rule, in this chapter, may grat-
ify a wish to take unfair advantages of those with
whom he deals. But I hope otherwise ; for 1 should
be sorry to give countenance, for one moment, to
such conduct. My whole purpose (hi this place) is
to give direction to the young for securing their
own rights ; not for taking away the rights of others.
The man who loves his neighbor as himself, will
not surely put a wrong construction on what I have
written. I would fain hope that there is no depar-
ture here or elsewhere, in the book, from sound

11

122 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Owe nobody. This not an impossibility. Calculating.

christian morality ; for it is the bible, on which I
wish to see all moral rules based.

Section VI. Buying upon Trust.

' Owe no man any thing, ' is an apostolic injunc-
tion ; and happy is he who has it in his power to
obey. In my own opinion, most young men pos-
sess this power, did they perceive the impoitance
of using it by commencing right. It is not so diffi-
cult a thing always to purchase with ready money,
as many people imagme. The great difficulty is to
moderate our desires and diminish our wants within
bounds proportioned to our income. We can ex-
pend much, or live on little; and this, too, without
descending to absolute penury. It is truly surpris-
ing to observe how people in similar rank, condition,
and circumstances, contrive to expend so very dif-
ferently. I have known instances of young men
who would thrive on an income which would not
more than half support their neighbors in cu'cum-
stances evidently sunilai'.

Study therefore to live within your income.
To this end you must calculate. But here you
will be obliged to leam much fi'om pei-sonal ex-
perience, dear as her school is, unless you are
willing to learn from that of others. If, for ex-
ample, your income is $600 a year, and you sit
down at the commencement of the year and cal-
culate on expending $400, and saving the remain-

BUYING UPON TRUST. 1J23

Buj- only what you need. Franklin. Evils of credit.

der, you will be very liable to fail in your calcula-
tion. But if you call iu the experience of wiser
heads who have travelled the road of life before
vou, they will tell you that after you have made
every reasonable allowance for necessary expenses
during the year, and believe yourself able to lay up
$200, you will not, once in ten times, be able to
save more than two thirds of that sum — and this,
too, without any sickness or casualty.

It is an important point never to buy what you
do not want. Many people buy an article merely
because it is cheap, and they can have credit. It
is true they imagine they shall want it at some
future time, or can sell it again to advantage. But
they would not buy at })resent, if it cost them cash,
from their pockets. The mischief is that when the
day of payment is distant, the cost seems more
triiling than it really is. Franklin's advice is m
point; 'Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere
long thou shalt sell thy necessaries;' — and such
persons would do well to remember it.

The difference between credit and ready money
is very great. Innumerable things are not bought
at all with ready money, which would be bought
in case of trust ; so much easier, is it, to order a
thing than to pay for it. A future day, a day of
payment must come, to be sure ; but that is little
thought of nt the time. But if the money were
to be dl•a^^^l out the moment the thing was re-
ceived ur offered, these questions would arise; Can

124 THE YOUNG man's GUIDE.

Origin of suicides. Bills and bonds. Keeping written accounts

1 not do ^vithout it ? Is it indispensable ? And if I
do not bay it, sliall I suffer a loss or injury greater in
amount than the cost of the thing ? If these ques-
tions were put, every time we make a purchase, we
should seldom hear of those suicides which dis-
grace this country, and the old world still more.

I am aware that it will be said, and veiy truly,
that the concerns of merchants, the purchasmg of
great estates, and various other large transactions,
cannot be can-ied on in this manner ; but these are
rare exceptions to the rule. And even in these
cases, there might be much less of bills and bonds,
and all the sources of litigation, than there now is.
But in the every day business of life, in transactions
with the butcher, the baker, the tailor, the shoe-
maker, what excuse can there be for pleading the
example of the merchant, who carries on his work
by ships and exchanges ?

A certain young man, on being requested to keep
an account of all he received and expended, an-
swered that his business was not to keep account
books: that he was sure not to make a mistake as
to his income ; and that as to his expenditure, the
purse that held his money, would be an infallible
guide, for he never bought any thing that he did
not immediately pay for. I do not mean to recom-
mend to young men not to keep written accounts,
for as the world is, 1 deem it indispensable.

Few, it is believed, will deny that they generally
pay, for the same article, a fourtli part more, in the

BUTl.HG UPON TRUST. 125

Estimates of losses by running in debt. Names buy nothing.

case of trust, than in that of ready money. Sup-
pose now, the baker, butcher, tailor, and shoemaker,
receive fj-oni you $400 a year. Now, if you multi-
ply the $100 3'ou lose, by not paying ready money,
by 20, you ^^ill find tliat at the end of twenty
years, you have a loss of $2,000, besides the ac-
cumulated uiterest.

The fathers of the English church, forbade selling
on trust at a higher price than for ready money,
which was the same thing in effect as to forbid
tinist; and this was doubtless one of the great ob-
jects those wise and pious men had in \iew ; for
they were fathers m legislation and morals, as well
as in religion. But we of tlie present age, seem
to have gi'owTi wiser than they, and not only make
a difference in the price, regulated by the differ-
ence in the mode of payment, but no one is expect-
ed to do otherwise. We are not only allowed to
charge something for the use of the money, but
something additional for the jnsk of the loss which
may frequently arise, — and most frequently does
arise — from the misfortunes of those to whom we
thus assign our goods on trust.

The man, therefore, who purchases on trust, not
only j)ays for being credited, but he also pays his
share of what the tradesman loses by his general
practice of selling upon trust ; and after all, he is
not so good a customer as the man who purchases
cheaply with ready money. His name, indeed, is in
tlie tradesman's book, but with that name the tradsft-
man cannot buy a fresh supply of goods, ,

196 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Advantages of ready money. Stinginess, and avarice.

Infinite, almost, are the ways in which people
lose by this sort of dealing. Domestics sometimes
go and order things not wanted at all; at otlier
times more than is wanted. All this would be
obviated by purchasing with ready money; for
whether tlu-ough the hands of the paity himself,
or those of some other person, there would always
be an actual counting out of the monej^ Somebody
would see the thing bought, and the money paid.
And as the master would give the steward or house-
keeper a purse of monej'^ at the time, he would see
the money too, would set a proper value upon it,
and would just desire to know upon what it had
been expended.

Every man, who pm-chases for ready money,
will naturally make the amount of the purchase as
low as possible, in proportion to his means. This
care and frugality will make an addition to his
means; and therefore, at the end of his life, he
wiU have a great deal more to spend, and still be
as rich as if he had been trusted all his days. In
addition to this, he will eat, and drink, and sleep
in peace, and avoid all the endless papers, and
writings, and receipts, and bills, and disputes, and
lawsuits, inseparable fi'om the credit system.

This is by no means intended as a lesson of
stinginess, nor is it any part of my purpose to in-
culcate the plan of heaping up money. But pur-
chasing with ready money really gives you more
money to purchase with ; you can afford to have a

OF TRUSTING OTHERS. 127

TempiHiion avoided. Cbarity often called for. An old maxim.

greater quantity and variety of enjoyments. In the
town, it will tend to hasten your pace along the
streets, for the temptation at the windows is ans-
wered m a moment by clappuig your hajul upon
your pocket; and the question ; 'Do I really want
it r ' is sure to recur immediately ; because the touch
of the money will put the thought into your mind.

Now supposing you to have a fortune, even
beyond your actual wants, would not the money
which you might save in this way, be very well ap-
phed hi acts of real benevolence ? Can you walk
or ride a mile, in the city or countiy, or go to half
a dozen houses ; or in fact can you open your eyes
without seeing some human being, bom in the
same country with yourself, and who, on that ac-
count alone, has some claim upon your good wishes
and your charity ? Can you, if you would, avoid
seeing one person, if no more, to whom even a small
portion of your annual savings would convey glad-
ness of heart ? Your own feelings will suggest
the answer.

Section Vll. Of entrmting Business to others.

' If you wish to have your business done, go ; if
not, send.' This is an old maxim ; and one which
is no less true than old. Every young man, on set-
ting out in the world, should make it a rule, never to
trust any tiling of consequence to another, which be
can, without too much difficulty, perform himself

128 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Reasons for attending to our business. Trusting dependants.

1. Because, let a person have my interest ever
so much at heart, I am sure I regard it more my-
self.

2. Nothing is more difficult than to know, m all
cases, the characters of those we confide m. How
can we expect to understand the characters of
othei-s, when we scai'cely know our own ? Which
of us can know, positively, that he shall never be
guilty of anotlier vice or weakness, or yield to an-
other temptation, and thus forfeit public confidence ?
Who, then, will needlessly trust another, when he
can hai'dly be sure of himself?

3. No substitute we can employ, can understand
our business as well as ourselves.

4. We can change our measures according to
changing circumstances; which gives us those
opportunities of doing things in the best way, of
which another will not feel justified in availing
himself

As for dependants of every kind, it should ever
be remembered that their master's interest some-
times possesses only the second place in tlieir hearts.
Self-love, with such, will be the ruling principle of
action ; and no fidelity whatever will prevent a
person from bestowing a good deal of thought upon
his own concerns. But this must, of necessity,
break m more or less upon his diligence m con-
sulting the interest of his employers. How men of
business can venture, as they sometimes do, to trust
concyrns of great importance, for half of every

OF TRUSTING OTHERS. 129

A fashionable maxim. Sometimes leads to error. Doing good.

week in the year, (which is half the whole year) to
dependants, and thus expect others to take cai-e of
their business, when they will not be at the ti'ouble
of minding it themselves, is to me inconceivable !
Nor does the detection, from thne to time, of fraud
hi such persons, seem at all to diminish this practice.

There is a maxim among business people, 'nev-
er to do tliat for themselves which they can pay
another for doing.' This, though true to a certain
extent, is liable to abuse. If eveiy body, without
discrimination, could be safely trusted, the maxim
might be rnore just; since nothing is more obvious
than that laborers are often at hand, whose time
can be bought for a much less sum of money than
you would youi*self eani in the meantime. I have
often known people make or mend little pieces
of furniture, implements of their occupations, &c.
to save expense, when they could have earned, at
then' labor during the same time, twice the sum
necessary to pay a tnisty and excellent workman
for doing it.

But, as I have already observed, persons are not
always at hand, in whom you can confide ; so diat
the certainty of having a thing done right, is worth
much more than the loss of a little time. Besides,
God has never said how much we must do in this
world. We are indeed to do all we can, and at the
same time do it well ; but hoiv much that is, we
must judge. He is not necessarily the most useful
man who does even the greatest amount of good ; —

130 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

A mistake corrected. Eagerness to overtrade. Its dan g-"-

but he wlio does the most good, attended witli the
least evil.

But we sliould remember that what others do, is
not done by ourselves. Still, an individual may often
do many little thmgs without any hindrance to his
mam object. For example, I would not thank a
person to make or mend my pen, or shave me ;
because I can write as much, or perform as much
business of any kind, in a week or month — proba-
bly more — if I stop to mend my pens, shave my-
self daily, make fires, saw and split wood, &c. as
if I do not. And the same is true of a thousand
other things.

Section VIII. Over Trading.

1 have already classed this among the frauds into
which business men are in danger of falling; and
1 cannot but think its character will be pretty well
established by what follows.

Over trading is an error into which many indus-
trious, and active young men are apt to run, fi'om
a desire of getting rich more rapidly than they are
able to do with a smaller business. And yet pro-
fusion itself is not more dangerous. Indeed, 1
question whether idleness brings, more people to
ruin thau over trading.

This subject is intimately connected with credit,
for it is the cj-edit system that gives such facilities
to over trading. But of the evils of credit I have

MAKING CONTRACTS. 131

Sin of monopoh'. .Making bargains beforehand. Reasons.

treated fully elsBAvhere. I \vill only add, under this
head, a few remarks on one pEuliculai* species of
trading. I refer to the conduct of many persons,
with large capitals, who, for the sake of adding to
a heap already too large, monopolize the market, —
or trade for a profit which they know dealers of
smaller fortnnes cannot possibly live by. If such
men really think that raising themselves on the ruin
of others, in this maimer, is justifiable, and that rich-
es obtained in this maimer ai-e fau'ly earned, they
must certamly have either neglected to inform
diemselves, or stifled the remonstrances of con-
science, and bid defiance to the laws of God.

SECTION IX. Making Contracts beforehand.

In making bargains — with workmen, for exam-
ple— always do it beforehand, and never suffer
the matter to be deferred by their saying they will
leave it to your discretion.

There are several reasons why this c»uglit to be
done. 1st. It prevents any difiiculty afterward ; and
does no harm, even when the intentions of both
parties are perfectly good. 2d. If you are dealing
with a knave, it y)revents him from accomplishing
any evil designs he may have upon you. 3d.
Young people are apt to be deceived by appear-
ances, both from a credulity common to theu* youth
and inexperience, and because neither the young
nor the old have any certain method of knowmg

132 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Contracts should be in writing. The sharper. The avaricious.

human character by externals. The most open
hecirted are the most hable to be imposed upon by
the designing.

It will be well to have all your business — of
coui"se all contracts — as far as may be practicable,
in writing. And it would be well if men of busi-
ness would make it a constant rule, whenever and
wherever it is possible, to draw up a minute or
memorial of every transaction, subscribed by both,
with a clause signifying that in case of any differ-
ence, they would submit the matter to arbitration.

Nothing is more common than for a designing
person to put off the individual he wishes to take
advantage of, by saying; We shanH disagree. Pll
do what '5 right about it ; I won't wrong you, ifc.
And then when accounts come to be settled, and
the party who thinks himself aggrieved, says that
he made the bargain with the expectation of having
such and such advantages allowed him, JVo, says
the shai-per, / never told you any such thing.

It is on this account that you cannot be too exact
in making contracts ; nor is there mdeed any safety
in dealing with deceitful and avaricious people,
after you have taken all the precaution in your
power.

WHOM TO DEAL WITH. 133

Two maxims reconciled. How to detect knavery.

SECTioiy X. How to know loith whom to deed.

There are two maxims in common life that seem
to clash with each other, most pointedly. The first
is, ' Use every precaution with a stranger, that you
would wish you had done, should he turn out to be
a villain;' and secondly, 'Treat every man as an
honest man, until he proves to be otherwise.'

Now there is good advice in both these maxims.
By this I mean that they may both be observed,
to a certain extent, without interfermg with each
other. You may be cautious about hastily becom-
ing acquainted with a stranger, and yet so far as
you have any concern with him, treat him like
an honest man. No reasonable pei*son will com-
plain if you do not unbosom yourself to him at
once. And if he is unreasonable, you will not
itnsh for an intimate acquaintance with him.

My present purpose is to offer a few hints, with
a view to assist you in judging of the characters of
those with whom it may be your lot to deal. Re-
member, however, that like all things human, they
are imperfect. All I can say is that they are the
best I can offer.

There is something in knavery that will hardly
bear the inspection of a piercing eye; and you
may, more generally, observe in a sharper an un-
steady and confused look. If a person is per-
suaded of the uncommon sagacity of one before
12

134 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Avaricious men seldom honest. Cant and fawning Suspicion,

whom he is to appear, he will hardly succeed in
mustering impudence and artifice enough to bear
him through without faltering. It will, therefore,
be a good way to try one whom you have reason
to suspect of a design upon you, by fixing your
eyes upon his, and bringing up a supposition of
your having to do with one whose mtegrity you
suspected; stating what you would do in such a
case. If the person you are talking with be really
what you expect, he will hardly be able to keep his
countenance.

It will be a safe rule, — though doubtless there
are exceptions to it, — to take mankind to be more
or less avaricious. Yet a great love of money is
a great enemy to honesty. The aged are, in this
respect, more dangerous than the young. It will
be your wisdom ever to be cautious of aged ava-
rice ; and especially of those who, in an affected
and forced manner, bring in religion, and talk much
of duty on all occasions ; of all smooth and fawning
people ; of those who are very tall^ative, and who,
in dealing with you, endeavor to draw off your at-
tention from the point in hand by incoherent or
random expressions.

I have already advised you how to proceed with
those of whom you have good reason to be suspi-
cious. But by all means avoid entertaming unne-
cessary suspicions of your fellow beings; for it
will usually render both you and them the more
miserable. It is often owing to a consciousness

WHOM TO DEAL WITH. 135

Boasters. Promisers. Avoid the cruel man.

of a designing temper, in oui-selves, that we are led
to suspect others.

If you hear a person boastmg of having got a
remarkably good bargain, you may generally con-
clude him by no means too honest ; for almost al-
ways where one gains much hi a bargain, the other
loses. I know well that cases occur where both
parties are gainei-s, but not greatly so. And when
you hear a man triumph in gaining by another's
loss, you may easily judge of his character.

Let me warn you against the sanguine promis-
ers. Of these there are two sorts. The first are
those who from a foolish custom of fawning upon
all those whom they meet with in company, have
acquired a habit of promising great favors which
they have no idea of pei-forming. The second are
a sort of warm hearted people, who while they
lavish their promises have some thoughts of per-
forming them ; but when the time comes, and the
sanguine fit is worn off, the trouble or expense ap-
pears in another light ; the promiser cools, and the
expectant is disappointed.

Be cautious of dealing with an avai*icious and
cruel man, for if it should ha()pen by an unlucky
turn of trade that you should come into the power
of such a person, you have nothing to expect but
the utmost rigor of the law.

In negotiating, there are a number of circum-
stances to be considered ; the neglect of any of
which may defeat your whole scheme. These
will be mentioned in the next section.

136 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

/Studying human nature. The miser. The passionate man.

Section XI. How to take Men as they are.

Such a knowledge of human character as will
enable us to treat mankind according to then' dis-
positions, circumstances, and modes of thinking,
so as to secure then' aid in all our laudable pur-
poses, is absolutely indispensable. And while all
men boast of their knowledge of human nature,
and would rather be thought ignorant of almost
every thing else than this, how obvious it is that
there is nothing in regard to which there exists so
much ignorance !

A miser is by no means a proper person to ap-
ply to for a favor that will cost him any thing.
But if he chance to be a man of principle, he may
make an excellent partner m trade, or arbitrator m
a dispute about property ; for he will have patience
to investigate little things, and to stand about trifles,
which a generous man would scorn. Still, as an
honest man, and above all as a Christian, I doubt
whether it would be quite right thus to derive ad-
vantage from the vices of another. In employing
the miser, you give scope to his paiticular vice.

A passionate man will fly into. a rage at the most
trifling afli'ont, but he will generally forget it nearly
as soon, and be glad to do any thing in his power
to make up with you. It is not therefore so dan-
gerous to disoblige him, as the gloomy, sullen mor-
tal, who will wait seven years for an opjjortunity to
-do you mif5chief.

TAKING MEN AS THET ARE. 137

The slow man. The covetous. Boasters. The talkative.

A cool, slow man, who is somewhat advanced
in age, is generally the best person to advise with.
For despatch of business, however^ make use of
the young, the warm, and the sanguine. Some men
are of no character at all ; but always take a tinge
from ihe last company they were in. Their ad-
vice, as well as their assistance, is usually good for
nothing.

It is in vain to thirik of finding anything very
valuable in the mind of a covetous man. Avarice
is generally the vice of abject spirits. Men who
have a very great talent at making money, com-
monly have no other ; for the man who began witli
nothing, and has accumulated wealth, has been too
busy to think of improving his njind; or indeed,
to think of any thing else but property.

A boaster is always to be suspected. His is a
natural infinnity, which makes him forget what
he is about, and run into a thousand extravagances
that have no connection with the truth. With those
who have a tolerable knowledge of the world, all
his assertions, professions of friendship, promises,
and threatenings, go for nothing. Trust him with
a secret, and he will surely discover it, either
through vanity or levity.

A meek tempered man is not quite the proper
j)erson for you ; his modesty will be easUy confound-
ed. — The talkative man vnW be apt to forget him-
Belf, and blunder out something that will give you
trouble.

12*

138 THE TOUJN^G man's GUIDE.

The ruling passion. A bully. Six kinds of character

A man's ruling passion is the key by wliich you
may come at his character, and pretty nearly guess
how he will act in any given cu'cumstances, unless
he is a wit or a fool ; they act chiefly fi-om caprice.

There are likewise connections between the dif-
ferent parts of men's characters, which it will be
useful for you to study. For example, if you find
a man to be hasty and passionate, you may gene-
rally take it for granted he is open and artless, and
so on. Like other general rules, however, this ad-
mits of many exceptions.

A bully is usually a coward. When, therefore,
you unluckily have to deal with such a man, the
best way is to make up to him boldly, and answer
him with firmness. If you show the least sign of
submission, he will take advantage of it to use
you Ul.

There are six sorts of people, at whose hands
you need not expect much kindness. The sordid
and narrow minded, think of nobody but tliem-
selves. The lazy ^viU not take the trouble to oblige
you. The husy have not time to think of you.
The overgrown rich man, is above regarding any
one, how much soever he may stand in need of
assistance. The poor and unhappy often have
not the ability. The good natured simpleton, how-
ever willing, is incapable of serving you. * /

* These statements may seem to require a little quali-
fication. There are two sorts of busy men. One sort
are busy, as the result of benevolent purpose. These

TAKING MEN AS THEY ARE. 139

Vouth precipitate. Age cautious. Two sorts of rich men.

The age of the person you are to deal with is
also to be considered. Young peoj^le are easily
drawn into any scheme, merely from its being new,
especially if it falls in with their love of pleasure ;
but they are almost as easily discouraged from it
by the next person they meet with. They are not
good counsellors, for they are apt to be precipitate
and thoughtless ; but are very fit for action, where
you prescribe them a track from which they know
they must not varj'. Old age, on the contrary, is

are often among the best of mankind; and though always
busy in carrying out their plans, they find time to perfomi
a thousand little acts of goodness, notwithstanding. — It
has, indeed, been sometimes said, that when a great public
enterprise is about to be undertaken, which requires tlie
aid of indivi'aual contributions, either of time or money,
those who are most busy, and from whom we might naturally
expect the least, often do the most. It is also said that
men of business have the most leisure; and it sometimes
seems to be true, where iliey methodize their plans pro-
perly. These maxims, however, apply with the most force
to men devoted to a higher purpose than the worship of
this world — men who live for God, and the good of his
universe, generally.

There are also two sorts of rich men. Some men may
have property in their hands to an immense amount, with-
out possessing a worldly spirit. The rich man referred to
above, is of another sort. He is the man who ' gets all he
can, and keeps all he can get.^ This is probably the
gospel definition of the term, a rich man, who, it is said,
can no more enter a world of spiritual enjoyment than a
camel or a cable can go through ' the eye of a needle.'

140 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Old and young counsellors compared. Who are the best.

slow but sure ; very cautious ; opposed to new
schemes and ways of life ; iiiclinuig, generally, to
covetousness ; fitter to consult with you, than to
act for you ; not so easily won by fair speeches or
long reasonings ; tenacious of old opinions, cus-
toms, and formalities ; apt to be displeased with
those, especially younger people, who pretend to
question their judgment; fond of deference, and of
bemg listened to. Young people, in their anger,
mean less than they say; old people more. You
may make up for an injury with most young men ;
the old are generally more slow in forgiving.

The fittest character to be concerned with in
business, is, tliat in which are united an inviolable
integrity, founded upon rational principles of vir-
tue and religion, a cool but determin'^d temper, a
friendly heart, a ready hand, long experience and
extensive knowledge of the world; with a solid
reputation of many years' standhig, and easy cir-
cumstances.

Secti ON XII. Of desiring the good opinion of others.

A young man is not far from ruin, w^hen he can
say, without blushing, / donH care what others think
of me. To be msensible to public opinion, or to
the estimation in which we are held by others, by
no means mdicates a good and generous spirit.

But to have a due regard to public opinion is
one thing, and to make that opinion the prmcipa]

REGARD TO PUBLIC OPINION. 141

Regard to public opinion. Enemies sometimes the best of friends.

rule of action, quite another. There is no greater
weakness than that of letting our happmess depend
too muck upon the opinion of others. Other people
lie under such disadvantages for coming at our true
chai-actei-s, and ai-e so often misled hy prejudice for
or against us, that if our own conscience condemns
us, theii* approbation can give us little consolation.
On the other hand, if we are sure we acted from
honest motives, and with a reference to proper
ends, it is of little consequence if the world should
happen to find fault. Mankind, for the most part,
are so much governed by fancy, that what will win
their hearts to-day, will disgust them to-morrow ;
and he who undeitakes to please every body at all
tunes, places, and cii-cumstances, will never be in
want of employment.

A wise man, when he hears of reflections made
upon him, will consider whether they are just. If
they are, he will correct the fauLs in question, with
as much cheerfulness as if they had been suggested
by his dearest friend.

I have sometimes thought that, in this view,
enemies were the best of friends. Those who ai'e
merely friends in name, are often unwilling to tell
us a great many thmgs which it is of the highest
importance that we should know. But our ene-
mies, from spite, en^y, or some other cause, men-
tion them; and we ought on the whole to rejoice
that they do, and to make the most of theii re-
marks.

142 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Of meddlers. A useful rule. Match-makere.

Section XIII. Intermeddling ivith the affairs of
others.

There ai'e some persons who never appear to be
happy, if left to themselves and their own reflec-
tions. x'Vll their enjoyment seems to come from
without ; none from within. They are ever fcr
havmg something to do witli tjie afFaii's of others.
Not a single petty quaiTel can take place, in the
neighborhood, but they suffer their feelings to be
enlisted, and allow themselves to " take sides " with
one of the parties. Those who possess such a dis-
position are among the most miserable of their race.

An old writer says that ' Every one should mind
his own business ; for he who is perpetually con-
cerning himself about the good or ill fortune of
othei*s, will never be at rest.' And he says tinjly.

It is not denied that some men are profession-
ally bound to attend to the concerns of others.
But this is not the case supposed. The bulk of
mankind will be liappier, and do more for others,
by lettmg them alone ; at least by avoiding any of
that sort of meddling which may be construed into
officiousness.

Some of the worst meddlers m human society
are those who have been denommated match-mak-
ers, A better name for them, however, would be
msAch-breakers, for if they do not actually break
more matches than they make, they usually cause

ON KEEPING SECRETS. 143

Taking sides ou all occasions. Its evils. Of secreta.

a great deal of misery to those whom they are in-
strumental in bringmg prematurely together.

Many people who, in other respects, pass for ex-
cellent, do not hesitate to take sides on almost all
occasions, whether they know much about the real
merits of the case or not. Others judge, at once,
of ever)" one of whom they hear any thuig evil ;
and in the same premature manner.

All these and a thousand other kmds of 'med-
dling' do much evil. The tendency is to keep
men like Ishmael, with their hands against every
man, and every man's hands against theh'S.

Section XIV. On Keeping Secrets.

It is sometimes said that in a good state of so-
ciety there would be no necessity of keeping secrets,
for no individual would have any thuig to conceal.
This 77iay be true; but if so, society is far — very
fai' — from being as perfect as it ought to be. At
present we shall find no intelligent circle, except
it were the society of the glorified above, which
does not require occasional secrecy. But if there
are secrets to be kept, somebody must keep them.

Some persons can hardly conceal a secret, if
they would. They will promise readily enough ;
but the moment they gain possession of the fact, ita
importance rises in their estimation, till it occupies
so much of their wakhig thoughts, that it will be
almost certain, in some form or other, to escape
them.

144 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Promise breakers. A few persons may be trusted. Reserve.

Others are not very anxious to conceal things
which ai'e entrusted to them. They may not wish
to make mischief, exactly; but there is a sort of
recklessness about them, that renders them very
unsafe confidants.

Others again, when they promise, mean to per-
fomi. But no sooner do they possess the treasure
committed to theu' charge, than they begin to grow
forgetful of the manner of coming by it. And be-
fore they are aware, they reveal it.

There are not many then, whom it is safe to
trust. These you will value as they do diamonds,
ui proportion to their scarcity.

But there are mdividuals who merit your high-
est confidence, if you can but find them. Hus-
bands, where a union is founded as it ought to be,
can usually trust their wives. This is one of the
prominent advantages of matrimony. It gives us an
opportunity of unbosoming our feelings and views
and wishes not only with safety, but often with
sympathy.

But confidence may sometimes be reposed, in
other circumstances. Too much reserve makes us
miserable. Perhaps it were better that we should
suffer a little, now and then, than that we should
never trust.

As an instance of the extent to which mankind
can sometimes be confided m, and to show that
celibacy, too, is not without this virtue, you will
allow me to relate, briefly, an anecdote.

FEAR OF POVERTY. 145

A singular diseaLse. Poverty in this countrj', often imaginary.

A certain husband and wife had difficulties.
They both sought advice of a single gentleman,
their family pliysician. For some time there was
hope of an amicable adjustment of all grievances ;
but at length every efFoit proved vain, and an open
quaiTel ensued. But what was the surprise of each
party to learn by accident, some time afterward,
that both of them had sought counsel of the same
individual, and yet he had not betrayed the trust.

In a few ijistances, too, secrets have been con-
fided to husbands, without their communicating
them to theii* wives ; and the contrary. This was
done, however, by particular request. It is a re-
quisition which, for my own pait, I should be very
unwilling to make.

'o

Section XV. Fear of Poverty.

The ingenious but sometimes fanciful Dr. Dar-
win, reckons the fear of poverty as a disease, and
goes on to prescribe for it.

The truth is, there is not much real poverty in
this country. Our very paupers are rich, for they
usually have plenty of wholesome food, and com-
fortable clothing, and what could a Croesus, with
all his riches, have more? Poverty exists much
more in imagination than in reality. The shame of
being thought poor, is a great and fatal weakness,
to say the least. It depends, it is true, much upon
the fashion.

13

146 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Danger of the young. Republican society. Disguising our poverty.

So long as the phrase ' he is a good man,' means
that the person spoken of is rich, we need not
wonder that every one wishes to be thought richer
than he is. When adulation is sure to follow
wealth, and when contempt would be sure to fol-
low man)^ if they were not wealthy ; when people
are spoken of with deference, and even lauded to
the skies because their riches are very great ; when
this is the case, I say, we need not wonder if men
are ashamed to be thought poor. But this is one
of the greatest dangers which young people have
to encounter in setting out in life. It has brought
thousands and hundreds of thousands to pecuniary
ruin.

One of ihe most amiable features of good repub-
lican society is this ; that men seldom boast of their
riches, or disguise their poverty, but speak of both,
as of any other matters that are proper for conver-
sation. No man shuns another because he is poor;
no man is preferred to another because he is rich.
In hundreds and hundreds of mstances have men
in this country, not worth a shilling, been chosen
by the people to take care of their rights and inter-
ests, in preference to men who ride in their car-
riages.

The shaiue of being thought poor leads to ever,
lasting efforts to disguise one's poverty. The car-
riage — the domestics — the wine — the spirits —
the decanters — the glass ; — all the table apparatus,
the horses, the dresses, the dinners, and the parties,

FEAR OF POVEKTT. 147

Fear of poverty produces it. Keeping up appearances.

must be kept up ; not so much because he or she
who keeps or gives them has any pleasure arising
tlierefrom, as because not to keep and give them,
would give rise to a suspicion of a want of means.
And thus thousands upon thousands are yeai-ly
brought into a state of real poverty, merely by their
great auxiety not to be thought poor. Look around
you carefuUy, and see if this is not so.

In how many instances have you seen amiable
and industrious families brought to ruin by nothing
else but the fear they should be? Resolve, then,
from the first, to set this false shame at defiance.
When you have done that, effectually, you have
laid the corner-stone of mental tranquillity.

There are thousands of families at this ver\' mo-
ment, struggling to keep up appearances. They
feel that it makes tliem miserable ; but you can no
more induce them to change their course, than you
can put a stop to the miser's laying up gold.

Farmers accommodate themselves to their con-
dition more easily than merchants, mechanics, and
profCvSsional men. They live at a greater distance
from their neighbors ; they can change their style
of living without bemg perceived ; they can put
away the decanter, change the china for something
plain, and the world is none the wiser for it. But
the mechanic, the doctor, the attorney, and the tra-
der cannot make the change so quietly and unseen.

Stimulating drink, which is a sort of criterion of
the scale of living, — (or scale to the plan,) — a

148 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Drinking water not genteel. Fear of being thought stingy.

sort of key to the tune ; — this is the thing to banish
first of all, because all the rest follow; and in a
short time, come down to their proper level.

Am 1 asked, what is a glass of wine ? 1 answer,
it is every thing. It creates a demand for all the
other unnecessai7 expenses ; it is injurious to health,
and must bo so. Every botde of wine that is drank
contains a portion of spirit, to say nothing of other
drugs still more poisonous ; and of all friends to the
doctors, alcoholic drinks ai-e the greatest. It is
nearly the same, however, with strong tea and
coffee. But what adds to the folly and wickedness
of using these drinks, the paities themselves do not
ahvays drink them by choice ; and hardly ever be-
cause they believe they are useful; — but from
mere ostentation, or the fear of being thought either
rigid or stingy. At this veiy moment, thousands
of families daily use some half a dozen drinks, he-
sides the best, because if they drank water only,
they might not be regarded as genteel ; or might be
suspected of poverty. And thus they waste their
property and their health.

Poveity frequently arises from the very virtues
of the impoverished parties. Not so frequently, I
admit, as from Aace, folly, and indiscretion ; but
still verj^ frequently. And as it is according to
scripture not to 'despise the poor, because he is
poor,' so we ought not to honor the rich merely
because he is rich. The true way is to take a fair
survey of the character of a man as exlnbited in

FEAR OF POVERTY. 149

Causes of suicide. These are various. Folly of this crime

bis conduct; and to respect him, or otherwise,
according to a due estimate of that character.

Few countries exhibit more of those fatal teraii-
nations of life, called suicides, than this. Many of
these unnatural crimes ai'ise from an unreiisonable
estimate of the evils of poverty. Their victims, it
is true, may be called insane : but their insanity
ahiiost always arises from the dread of poverty.
Not, indeed, from the dread of the want of means
for sustaining life, or even decent living; but from
the dread of being thought or known to be poor; —
from the di'ead of wliat is called falling in the scale
of society. *

Viewed in its true light, what Is there in poverty
that can tempt a man to take away his own life ?
He is the same man that he was before ; he has the
same body and the same mind. Suppose he can
foresee an alteration in his dress or his diet, should
he kill himself on that account? Are these all the
things that a man wishes to live for ?

* I should be sorry to be uriderstood as affirming Uiat a
majority of suicidal acts are the result of intemperance; —
by no means. My own opinion is, that if there be a single
vice moi-f; fruitful of tliis horrid crime than any other, it is
gross sensuality. The records of insane hospitals, even in
this country will show, that this is not mere conjecture. As
it happens, however, tliat the la'.ter vice is usually accompa-
nied by intemperance in eating and drinking, by gambling,
&c., the blame is commonly thrown, not on the principal
agent concerned in the crime, but on the accomplice<).
IS*

150 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

St. Paul's advice. Early fondness for speculation,

I do not deny that we ought to take care of our
means, use them prudently and sparingly, and keep
our expenses always within tlie limits of our in-
come, be that what it may. One of the effectual
means of doing this, is to purchase with ready
money. On this point, I have already remarked
at length, and will only repeat here the injunction
of St. Paul ; ' Owe no man any thing ; ' although
the fashion of the whole world should be against
you.

Should you regard the advice of this section, the
counsels of the next will be of less consequence ;
for you will have removed one of the strongest
inducements to speculation, as well as to overtrad-
ing.

Section XVI. On Speculation.

Young men are apt to be fond .of speculation.
This propensity is very early developed — first in
the family -^ and afterwards at the school. By
speculation, I mean the purchasing of something
which you do not want for use, solely with a view
to sell it again at a large profit ; but on the sale of
which there is a hazard.

When purchases of this sort are made with the
person's own cash, they are not so unreasonable;
but when they are made by one who is deeply in-
debted to his fellow beings, or \vith money bor-
rowed for the purpose, it is not a whit better than

ON SPECULATION. 151

Speculation a sort of gambling. Its evils. A ccmmon mistake .

gambling, let the practice be defended by whom it
may : and has been in every coimtiy, especially in
this, a fruitful source of poveity, miseiy, and sui-
cide. Grant that this species of gambling has
arisen from the facility of obtaining the fictitious
means of making the purchase, still it is not the
less necessary that I beseech you not to practise it,
and if engaged in it already, to disentangle yourself
as soon as you can. Your life, while thus engaged,
is that of a gamester — call it by what smoother
name you may. It is a life of constant anxiety,
desire to overreach, and general gloom ; enlivened
now and then, by a gleam of hope or of success.
Even that success is sure to lead to farther adven-
tures ; till at last, a thousand to one, tliat your fate
is that of ' the pitcher to the well.'

The great temptation to this, as well as to every
other species of gambling, is, the success of the few.
As young men, who crowd to the army in search
of rank and renown, never look into the ditch that
holds their slaughtered companions, but have their
eye constantly fixed on the commander-in-chief;
and as each of them belongs to the same profession^
and is sure to be conscious that he has equal merit,
every one dreams himself the suitable successor of
him who is surrounded with aides-de-camp, and
"who moves battalions and columns by his nod ; —
so with the rising generation of ' speculators.' They
see those whom they suppose nature and good laws
made to black shoes, or sweep chimneys or streets.

152 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Avoid the law. Litigiousness a contagious disease.

rolling ui carriages, or sitting in palaces, surround-
ed by servants or slaves ; and they can see no earthly
reason why they should not all do the same. They
forget the thousands, and tens of thousands, who in
making the attempt, have reduced themselves to
beggary.

Section XVII. On Lawsuits.

In every situation in life, avoid the law. Man's
nature must be changed, perhaps, before lawsuits
will entirely cease ; and yet it is in the power of
most men to avoid them, in a considerable degree.

One excellent rule is, to have as little as possible
to do with those who are fond of litigation ; and
who, upon every slight occasion, talk of an appeal to
the law. This may be called a disease ; and, like
many other diseases, it is contagious. Besides, these
persons, from their frequent litigations, contract a
habit of using the technical terms of the courts, in
which they take a pride, and are therefore, as com-
panions, peculiarly disgusting to men of sense.
To such beings a lawsuit is a luxury, instead of
being regarded as a source of anxiety, and a real
scourge. Such men are always of a quarrelsome
disposition, and avail themselves of every opportu-
nity to indulge in that which is mischievous to their
neighbors.

In thousands of instances, men go to law for the
indulgence of mere anger. The Germans are said

ON LAWSUITS. 153

gpite-actions. Nothing gained by lawsuits. Anecdotes.

to bring spite-actions against one another, and to
harass their poorer neighbors from motives of pure
revenge. But I hope this is a mistake ; for I am
unwilHng to thmk so ill of that intelligent nation.

Before you decide to go to law, consider well
the cost, for if you win your suit and are poorer
than you were before, what do you gam by it ? You
only imbibe a little additional anger against your
opponent; you injure him, but at the same time, in-
jure yom-self more. Better to put up with the loss
of one dollar than of tvvo ; to which is to be added,
all the loss of time, all the trouble, and all the mor-
tification and anxiety attending a lawsuit. To set
an attorney at work to worry and torment another
man, and alarm his family as well as himself, while
you are sitting quietly at home, is baseness. If a
man owe you money which he cannot pay, why
add to his distress, without even the chance of be-
nefiting yourself.^ Thousands have injured them-
selves by resorting to the law, while very few, in-
deed, ever bettered their condition by it.

Nearly a million of dollars was once expended
in England, during the progress of a single lawsuit.
Those who brought the suit expended $ 444,000 to
carry it through ; and the opposite party was ac-
quitted, and only sentenced to pay the cost of pros-
ecution, amounting to $318,754. Another was
sustained in court fifty years, at an enormous ex-
])ense. In IMeadville, in Pennsylvania, a petty law
case occun-ed in which the damages recovered

154 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

More anecdotes on the same subject. Litigiousness hereditary.

were only ten dollars, while the costs of court were
one hundred. In one of the New England States,
a lawsuit occun-ed, which could not have cost the
parties less than $1000 each ; and yet after all this
expense, they mutually agreed to take the matter
out of court, and suffer it to end wliere it was.
Probably it was the wisest course they could possi-
bly have taken. It is also stated that a quarrel
occun*ed between two pei-sons in Middlebury, Ver-
mont, a few years since, about six eggs, Avhich was
carried from one court to another, till it cost the
parties $ 4,000.

I am well acquainted with a gentleman who was
once engaged in a lawsuit, (than which none per-
liaps, was ever m.ore just) where his claim was one
to two thousand dollars ; but it fell into such a
train that a final decision could not have been ex-
pected in many months ; — perhaps not in years.
The gentleman was unwilling to be detained and
peiplexed with waiting for a trial, and he accord-
ingly paid the whole amount of costs to that time,
amounting to $ 150, went about his business, and
believes, to this hour, that it was the wisest course
he could have pursued.

A spirit of litigation often disturbs the peace of
a whole neighborhood, pei-petually, for several gen-
erations; and the hostile feeling thus engendered
seems to be transmitted, like the color of the eyes
or the hair, from father to son. Indeed it not un-
frequently happens, that a lawsuit in a neighbor-

ON LAWSUITS. 155

Arbitration. First steps to the law. Tarring and feathering.

hood, a society, or even a church, awakens feelings
of discord, which never tenninate, but at tlie death
of tlie parties concerned.

How ought young men, then, to avoid, as they
would a pestilence, this fiend-like spirit! How
ought they to labor to settle all disputes — should
disputes unfortunately arise, — without this tremen-
dous resort! On the strength of much observation,
— not expejnence, for I have been saved the pain
of learning in that painflil school, on this subject, — I
do not hesitate to recommend the settlement of such
diflBculties by arbitmtion.

One thing however should be remembered.
Would you dry up the river of discord, you mu^t
first exhaust the fountains and rills which form it.
The moment you indulge one impassioned or an-
gry feeling against your fellow being, you have
taken a step in the high road which leads to liti-
gation, war and murder. Thus it is, as I have
already told you, that 'He that hateth his brother
is a murderer.'

1 have heard a father — for he hath the name of
parent, though he little deserved it — gravely con-
tend that there was no such thing as avoiding
quarrels and lawsuits. He thought there was one
thing, however, which might prevent them, which
was to take the litigious individual and 'tar and
feather' him without ceremony. How ofl:en is it
true that mankind little know 'what manner of
spirit they are of;' and to how many of us will
this striking reproof of the Saviour apply !

156 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Getting a ' good bargain.' The Mohammedans. Lesson from them.

MultitQdes of men have been in active business
during a long life, and yet avoided every thing in
the shape of a lawsuit. ' What man has done, man
may do ; ' in this respect, at the least.

Section XVIII. On Hard Dealing.

Few things are more common among business-
doing men, than hard dealing; yet few things re-
flect more dishonor on a Christian community. It
seems, in general, to be regarded as morally right,
— in defiance of all rules, whether golden or not, —
to get as ' good a bai-gain ' in trade, as possible ;
and this is defended as unavoidable, on account of
the state of society ! But what produced this state of
society ? Was it not the spirit of avarice ? What
will change it for the better ? Nothing but the re-
nunciation of this spirit, and a willingness to sacri-
fice, in this respect, for the public welfare.

We are pagans in this matter, in spite of our pro-
fessions. It would be profitable for us to take les-
sons on this subject from the Mohammedans. They
never have, it is said, but one price for an article ;
and to ask the meanest shopkeeper to lower his
price, is to insult him. Would this were the only
point, in which the Christian community are des-
tined yet to learn even fi'om Mohammedans.

To ask one price and take another, or to offer
one price and give another, besides being a loss of
time, is highly dishonorable to the parties. It is,

ON HARD DEALING. 157

One species of lying. On evils correcting themselves.

in fact, a species of lying ; and it answers no one
advantageous purpose, either to the buyer or seller
I hope that every young man will start in life with
a resolution never to be hard in his dealings.

'It is an evil which will correct itself;' say
those who wish to avail themselves of its present
advantages a little longer. But when and v^^here
did a general evil correct itself.^ When or where
was an erroneous practice permanently removed,
except by a change of public sentiment ? And
what has ever produced a change in the public sen-
timent but the determination of individuals, or their
combined action ?

While on this topic, I will hazard the assertion —
even at the risk of its being thought misplaced —
that great effects are yet to be produced on public
opinion, in this country, by associations of spirited
and intelligent young men. I am not now speaking
of associations for [)oIitical purposes, tliough I am
not sure that even these might not be usefully con-
ducted ; but of associations for mutual improvement,
and for the correction and elevation of the public
morals. The "Boston Young Men's Society,"
afford a specimen of what maybe done in this way;
and numerous associations of the kind have sprung
up and ai*e springing up in various parts of the
country. Judiciously managed, they must inevit-
ably do great good ; — though it should not be for-
gotten that they may also be productive of immense
evil.

14

CHAPTER 111.

©n Amusements anH Knliulflences.

Section 1. On Gaming.

Even Voltaire asserts that ' every gambler is,
has been, or will be a robber.' Few practices are
more ancient, few more general, and few, if any,
more pernicious than gaming. An English writer
has ingeniously suggested that the Devil himself
might have been the first player, imd that he con-
trived the plan of introducing games among men,
to afford them temporary amusement, and divert
their attention from themselves. 'What number-
less disciples,' he adds, 'of his sable majesty, might
we not count in our o^mi metropolis ! '

Whether his satanic majesty has any very direct
agency in this matter or not, one thing is certain ; —
gaming is opposed to the happiness of mankind,
and ought, in every civilized country, to be sup-
pressed by public opmion. By gammg, however, 1
here refer to those cases only in which property is
at stake, to be won or lost. The subject of diver-
sions will be considered in another place.

Gaming is an evil, because, in the first place, it is

ON GAMING. 159

Gamesters are not producers. Evils of staming.

a practice which produces notliing. He who makes
two blades of grass grow where but one grew be-
fore, has usually been admitted to be a public
benefactor; for he is a producer. So is he who
combines or arranges these productions in a useful
manner, — I mean the mechanic, manufacturer, &c.
He is equally a public benefactor, too, who pro-
duces mental or moral wealth, as well as physical.
In gaming, it is true, property is shifted from one
individual to another, and here and there one
probably gains more than he loses ; but nothing is
actually made, or produced. If the whole human
family were all skilful gamestei-s, and should play
constantly for a year, there would not be a dollar
more m the world at tlie end of the year, than
there was at its commencement. On the contrary, is
it not obvious that there would be much less, besides
even an immense loss of time ?*

But, secondly, gaming favora coiTuption of man-
ners. It is difficult to trace the progress of rhe
gamester's mind, from the time he commences his
downward course, but we know too well the goal
at which he is destined to arrive. There may be
exceptions, but not many ; generally speaking,

* Every man wlio eajoys the privileges of civilized
society, owes it to that society to earn as much as he can;
or, in other words, improve every minute of his time. He
who loses an hour, or a minute, is the price of that hour
debtor to the community. Moreover, it is a debt which he
can never repay.

160 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Gaming opposed to industiy. The philosophers, Locke's opinion.

every gamester, sooner or later travels the road to
perdition, and often adds to his own wo, by drag-
ging others along with him.

Thirdly, it discourages industry. He who is ac-
customed to receive large sums at once, which bear
no sort of proportion to the labor by which they are
obtained, will gradually come to regard the moderate
but constant and certain rewards of industrious
exertion as insipid. He is also in danger of falling
into the habit of paying an undue regard to hazard
or chance, and of becoming devoted to the doctrine
of fatality.

As to the few who are skilful enough to gain
more, on the whole, than they lose, scarcely one
of them pays any regard to prudence or economy
in his expenditures. What is thus lightly acquked,
is lightly disposed of Or if, in one instance in a
thousand, it happens otherwise, the result is still
unfavorable. It is but to make the miser still more
a miser, and the covetous only the more so. Man is
so constituted as to be unable to bear, with safety, a
rapid accumulation of property. To the truth of
this, all history attests, whether ancient or modem,
sacred or profane.

The famous philosopher Locke, in his ' Thoughts
on Education,' thus observes : ' It is certain, gam-
ing leaves no satisfaction behind it to those whd
reflect when it is over ; and it no way profits either
body or mind. As to their estates, if it strike so
deep as to concern them, it is a trade then, and not

ON GAMING. 161

Criminality of gaming. Avoiceofexperier.ee. The army

a recreation, wherein few thrive ; and at best a
thriving gamester has but a poor trade of it, who
fills his pockets at the price of his reputation.'

In regard to the criminality of the practice, a
late wiiter has the following striking remarks.

'As to gaming, it is always criminal, either in
itself or in its tendency. The basis of it is covet-
ousness; a desii-e to take from others something
for which you have neither given, nor intend to
give an equivalent. No gambler was ever yet a
happy man, and few gamblers have escaped being
positively miserable. Remember, too, that ,to game
for nothing is still gaming ; and naturally leads to
gaming for something. It is sacrificing time, and
that, too, for the worst of pui*poses.

'I have kept house for nearly forty years; I
have reared a family ; I have entertained as many
fi-iends as most people ; and I never had cards,
dice, a chess board, nor any implement of gaming
under my roof. The hours that young men spend
in this way, are hours murdered ; precious hours
that ought to be spent either in reading or in writ-
ing ; or in rest ; preparatory to the duties of the
dawn.

'Though I do not agree with those base flat-
terers who declare the army to be the best school
for statesmen, it is certainly a school in which we
lecirn, experimentally, many useful lessons ; and in
this school I learned that men fond of gaming, are
rarely, if ever, trust- worthy. I have known many
14"

162 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE

Mistake of professing Christians. Evil tendency of this vice

a decent man rejected in the way of promotion,
only because he was addicted to gaming. Men, in
that state of Ufe, cannot ruin themselves by gam-
ing, for they possess no fortune, nor money; but
the taste for gaming is always regarded as an in-
dication of a radically bad disposition ; and I can
truly say that I never in my whole life — and it
has been a long and eventful one — knew a man
fond of gaming, who was not, in some way or other,
unworthy of confidence. This vice creeps on by
very slow degrees, till, at last, it becomes an un-
governable passion, swallowing up every good and
kind feeling of the heart.'

For my own part I know not the names of cards ;
and could never take interest enough in card-play-
ing to remember them. I have always wondered
how sober and intelligent people, who have con-
sciences, and believe the doctrine of accountability
to God — how professing Christians even, as is the
case in some parts of this countiy, can sit whole
evenings at cards. Why, what notions have they
of the value of time ? Can they conceive of Him,
whose example we are bound to follow, as engaged
in this way ? The thought should, shock us ! What
a Herculean task Christianity has yet to accom-
plish !

The excess of this vice has caused even the
overthrow of empires. It leads to conspiracies,
and creates conspirators. Men overwhelmed with
debt, are always ready to obey the orders of any

ON GAMING. 163

£xaiiipl;-s I'loia ni.ton. Rcme. France. England-

bold chieftain who may attempt a decisive stroke,
even against government itself. Catiline had very
soon under his command an army of scoundrels.
'Everyman,' says Sallust, 'who by his follies or
losses at the gaming table had consumed the in-
heritance of his fathers, and all who were suffer-
ers by such misery, were the friends of this per-
verse man.'

Perhaps this vice has nowhere been carried to
greater excess than in France. There it has its
administration, its chief, its stockholders, its offi-
cers, and its priests. It has its domestics, its
pimps, its spies, its informers, its assassins, its bul-
lies, its aiders, its abettors, — in fact, its scoundrels
ofeveiy description ; particularly its hu'eling swind-
lers, who are paid for decoying the unwary into
this 'hell upon earth,' so odious to morality, and so
destructive to virtue and Christianity.

In England, this vice has at all times been look-
ed upon as one of pemicious consequence to the
commonwealth, and has, therefore, long been pro-
hibited. The money lost in this way, is even re-
coverable again by law. Some of the laws on this
subject were enacted as early as the time of Queen
Anne, and not a few of the penalties are very
severe. Every species of gambling is strictly for-
bidden in the British army, and occasionally pun-
ished with great severity, by order of the comman-
der in chief These facts show the state of public

164 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Alarming facts. The alms-house and prison. Anecdote.

opinion in that countiy, in regard to the evil ten-
dency of tiiis practice.

Men of immense wealth have, in some instances,
entered gambling houses, and in the short space of
an horn- have found themselves reduced to abso-
lute beggary. ' Such men often lose not only what
their purses or their bankers can supply, but
houses, lands, equipage, jewels; in fine, every
thing of which they call themselves masters, even
to their very clothes ; then perhaps a pistol termi-
nates then* mortal career.'

Fifteen hours a day are devoted by many infat-
uated persons in some countries to this unhappy
practice. In the middle of the day, while the wife
directs with prudence and economy the adminis-
tration of her husband's house, he abandons him-
self to become the prey of rapacious midnight and
mid-day robbers. The result is, that he contracts
debts, is stripped of his property, and his wife and
children are sent to tlie alms-house, whilst he, per-
haps, perishes in a prison.

My life has been chiefly spent in a situation
where comparatively little of this vice prevails.
Yet, I have known one individual who divided his
time between hunting and gaming. About four
days in the week were regularly devoted to the
latter practice. From breakfast to dinner, from
dinner to tea, from tea to nine o'clock, this was
his regular employment, and was pursued inces-

oy GAMING. 165

Night usually devoted to gaming. A horrible alliance-

santly. The inaa was about seventy yeai's of age.
He did not play for very large sums, it is true;
seldom more than five to twenty dollars; and it
■was his uniform practice to retire precisely at nine
o'clock, and vs'ithout supper.

Gezierally, however, the night is more especially
devoted to this employment. I have occasionally
been at public houses, or on board vessels where
a company was playing, and have known many
hundreds of dollars lost in a single night. In one
instance, the most horrid midnight oaths and blas-
phemy were indulged. Besides, there is an almost
direct connection between the gambling table and
brothel ; and the one is seldom long unaccompa-
nied by the other.

Scarcely less obvious and direct is the connec-
tion between this vice and intemperance. If the
drunkard is not always a gamester, the gamester is
almost without exception intemperate. There is
for the most part a union of the three — horrible as
the alliance may be — I mean gambling, intemper-
ance, and debauchery.

There is even a species of intoxication attendant
on gambling. Rede, in speaking of one form of
this vice which prevails in Europe, says ; * It is, in
fact, a PROMPT murderer; irregular as all other
games of hazard — rapid as lightning in its move-
ments — its strokes succeed each other with an
activity that redoubles the ardor of the player's
blood, and often deprives him of the advantage of

166 THE TOUJXG man's GUIDE.

One form of slavery. Burgh's opinion. Avoid the first steps.

reflection. In fact, a man aftei- half an hour's
play, who for the whole niglit may not have taken
any thhig stronger than water, has all the appear-
ance of drunkenness.' And who lias not seen tlie
flushed cheek and the i-ed eye, produced shnply by
the excitement of an ordmary gaming table .^

It is an additional proof of the evil of gaming
that every person devoted to it, feels it to be an evil.
Why then does he not refrain ? Because he has
sold himself a slave to the deadly habit, as effectu-
ally as the th'unkard to his cups.

Burgh, in his Dignity of Human Nature, sums
up the evils of tins practice in a single i)aragraph :

' Gaming is an amusement wholly unworthy of
rational beings, havmg neither the pretence of ex-
ercising the body, of exerting ingenuity, or of
giving any natural pleasure, and owing its enter-
tainment wholly to an unnatural and vitiated taste ;
— the cause of infinite loss of time, of enormous
desti'uction of money, of irritating the passions, of
stirring up avarice, of innumerable sneaking, tricks
and frauds, of encouraging idleness, of disgustuig
people agamst theh* proper employments, and of
sinking and debasing all that is truly gi-eat and
valuable in the mind.'

Let me warn you, then, my young readers, —
nay, more, let me urge you never to enter this
dreadful road. Shun it as you would the road to
destruction. Take not the first step, — the moment
you do, all may be lost. Say not that you can

0?J GAMING. 167

Pr Dwislit's remarks. Reader urged to reflect. Montesquieu.

command youi-selves, and can stop when you ap-
proach the confines of danger. So thousands have
thought as sincerely as yourselves — and yet they
fell. ' The probabihties that we shall fall where so
many have fallen,' says Dr. Dwight, 'ai'e millions
to one ; and the conti'aiy opinion is only tlie dream
of lunacy.'

When you are inclined to think yourselves safe,
consider the multitudes who once felt themselves
equally so, have been con'upted, distressed, and
ruined by gaming, both for this world, and that
which is to come. Think how many famihes have
been plunged by it in beggary, and overwhelmed
by it in vice. Think how many persons have be-
come bars at the gaming table; how many per-
jured ; how many dioinkards ; how many blasphe-
mers ; how many suicides. ' If Europe,' said Mon-
tesquieu, 'is to be ruined, it will be ruined by
gaming.' If the United States are to be ruined,
gaming in some of its forms will be a very efficient
agent m accomplishing the work.

Some of the most common games practised in
this country, are cards, dice, billiai-ds, shooting
matches, and last, though not least, lotteries. Horse-
racing and cockfightmg are still in use in some
parts of the United States, though less so than for-
merly. In addition to the general remarks ah-eady
made, 1 now proceed to notice a few of tlie par-
ticular forms of this vice.

168 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Card playing. Its enticing nature. Disgraceful practice.

1. CARDS, DICE, AND BILLIARDS.

The foregoing remarks will be applicable to each
of these three modes of gambling. But in regard
to cards, there seems to be something pecuharly
enticing. It is on this account that youth are re-
quired to be doubly cautious on this point. So be-
witching were cards and dice regarded in England,
that penalties were laid on those who should be
found playing with them, as early as the reign of
George II. Card playing, however, still prevails
in Europe, and to a considerable extent in the
United States. There is a very common impres-
sion abroad, that the mere playing at cards is in
itself mnocent: that the danger consists in the ten-
dency to excess; and against excess most people
imagine themselves sufficiently secure. But as ' the
best throw at dice, is to throw them away,' so the
best move with cards would be, to commit them to
the flames.

2. SHOOTING MATCHES.

This is a disgraceful practice, which was former-
ly in extensive use in these States at particular
seasons, especially on the day preceding the annual
Thanksgiving. I am sorry to say, that there are
places where it prevails, even now. Numbers who
have nothing better to do, collect together, near
some tavern or grog-shop, for the sole purpose of

SHOOTING MATCHES. 169

Cruelty of shooting matches. They lead to many other evilg.

fn^ing their skill at shooting fowls. Tied to a
stake at a short distance, a poor mnocent and help-
less fowl is set as a mark to furnish sport for idle
men and boys.

Could the creatm-e be put out of its misery by
the first discharge of the musket, the evil would
not appear so great. But this is seldom the case.
Several discharges are usually made, and between
each, a running, shouting and jumping of the com-
pany takes place, not unfi*equently mingled with
oaths and curses.

The object of this infernal torture being at length
despatched, and suspended on the muzzle of the
gun as a trophy of victory, a rush is made to the
bar or counter, and brandy and rum, accompanied
by lewd stories, and perhaps quarreUing and drunk-
enness, often close the scene.

It rarely fails that a number of children are as-
sembled on such occasions, who listen with high
glee to the conversation, whether in the field or at
the inn. If it be the grossest profaneness, or the
coarsest obscenity, they will sometimes pride them-
selves in imitating it, thinking it to be manly ; and in
a like spirit will partake of the glass, and thus com-
mence the drunkard's career. — This practice is
conducted somewhat difierently in diflferent places,
but not essentially so.

It is much to the credit of the citizens of many
parts of New England that their good sense will
not, any longer, tolerate a practice so brutal, and

15

170 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Substitute for the fuvvl. Racing and fighting. Montaigne.

scarcely exceeded in this respect by the cock-
fights in other parts of the coimtiy. As a substi-
tute for this practice a cii'cle is drawn on a board
or post, of a certain size, and he who can hit with-
in the ckcle, gains the fowl. This is stUl a species
of gaming, but is divested of much of the ferocity
and bnitality of the former.

3. HORSERACING AND COCKFIGHTING.

It is only m particular sections of the United
States that public opmion tolerates these practices
extensively. A horserace, in New England, is a
very rare occurrence. A <:ockfight, few among us
have ever witnessed. Wherever the cruel dispo-
sition to indulge in seeing animals fight together
is allowed, it is equally degraduig to hmnan na-
ture with that fondness which is manifested in
other countries for witnessing a bull fight. It is
indeed the same disposition, only existing in a
smaller degree in the former case than in the
latter.

Montaigne thinks it a reflection upon human
nature itself that few people take delight in seeing
beasts caress and play together, while almost every
one is pleased to see them lacerate and worry one
another.

Should your lot be cast in a region where any
of these inhuman practices prevail, let it be your
constant and firm endeavor, not merely to keep

0^- LOTTERIES. 171

Disgraceful scene near Philadelphia. Another kind of gambling

aloof from them yourselves, but to prevail on all
those over whom God may have given you influ-
ence, to avoid them likewise. To enable you to
face the public opinion when a point of mipoitance
is at stake, it will be useful to consult carefully the
first chapter of this work.

I am son-y to have it in my power to state that in
the year 1833 there was a bull Jiglii four miles
southward of Philadelphia. It was attended by
about 1500 persons ; mostly of the very lowest
classes from the city. It was marked by many of
the same evils which attend these cruel sports in
other countries, and by the same reckless disregard
of mercy towards the poor brutes who suffered in
the conflict. It is to be hoped, however, for the
honor of human nature, that the good sense of the
community will not pennit this detestable custom
to prevail.

Section II. On Lotteries.

Lotteries are a species of gambling; differing
fi-om other kinds only in being tolerated either by
the law of the land, or by that of public opinion.
The proofs of this assertion are mnumerable. Not
only young men, but even married women have,
in some instances, become so addicted to ticket
buying, as to ruin themselves and their families.

From the fact that efforts have lately been made
in several of the most influential States in the

172 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Lottery system public gambling. Flimsy defence of it.

Union to suppress them, it might seem unnecessary,
at first view, to mention this subject. But although
the letter of the law may oppose them, there is a
portion of our citizens who will continue to buy
tickets clandestinely ; and consequently somebody
will continue to sell them in the same manner.
Penalties will not suppress them at once. It will
be many yeai-s before the evil can he wholly eradi-
cated. The flood does not cease at the moment
when the windows of heaven are closed, but con-
tinues, for some time, its ravages. It is necessaiy,
therefore, that the young should guard themselves
against the temptations which they hold out.

It may be said that important works, such as
monuments, and churches, have been completed by
means of lotteries. I know it is so. But the pro-
fits which arise from the sale of tickets are a tax
upon the community, and generally upon the poorer
classes : or rather they are a species of swindling.
That good is sometimes done with these ill-gotten
gains, is admitted ; but •.noney procured in any
other unlawftd, inunoral, or criminal way, could
be applied to build bridges, roads, churches, &c.
Would the advantages thus secured, however, jus-
tify an unlawful means of securing them ? Does
the end sanctify the means?

It is said, too, that individuals, as well as asso-
ciations, have been, in a few mstances, greatly
aided by prizes in lotteries. Some bankrupts have
paid their debts, like honest men, with them. This

ON LOTTERIES. 173

Prizes do not benefit those who draw them. Estimates.

they might do with stolen money. But cases of
even this kind, are rare. The far greater part of
the money drawn in tlie form of prizes in lotteries,
only makes its possessor more avaricious, covetous,
or oppressive than before. Money obtained in this
manner commonly ruins mind, body, or estate;
sometimes all three.

Lottery schemes have been issued in the single
State of New York, in twelve years, to the amount
of $ 37,000,000. If other States have engaged in the
business, in the same proportion to their population,
the sum of all the schemes issued in the United
States within that time has been $ 240,000,000. A
sum sufficient to maintain m comfort, if not afflu-
ence, the entire population of some of the smaller
States for more than thiity years.

Now what has been gained by all this? It is
indeed true, that the discount on this sum, amount-
ing to $36,000,000, has been expended in paying
a set of men for one species of labor. If we sup-
pose their average salary to have been $ 500, no less
than 6,000 clerks, managers, &c., may have obtain-
ed by this means, a support during the last twelve
years. But what have the 6,000 men produced all
this while? Has not theii* whole time been spent
in receiving small sums (from five to fifty dollars)
fi*om individuals, putting them together, as it were,
in a heap, and afterwards distributing a part of it
in sums, with a few exceptions, equally small .^ —
Have they added one dollar, or even one cent to the
15*

174 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Effects on individuals. On the community. Their evil tendency.

original stock? I have already admitted, that he
who makes two blades of grass gi*ow where only
one grew before, is a benefactor to his country;
but these men have not done so much as that.

A few draw prizes, it has been admitted. Some
of that few make a good use of them. But the
vast majority are injured. They either become
less active and industrious, or more parsimonious
and miserly; and not a few become prodigals or
bankrupts at once. In any of these events, they
are of course unfitted for the essential purposes of
human existence. It is not given to humanity to
bear a sudden acquisition of wealth. The best of
men are endangered by it. As in knowledge, so
in the present case, what is gained by hard dig-
ging is usually retained ; and what is gained easily
usually goes quickly. There is this difference,
however, that the moral character is usually lost
with the one, but not always with the other.

These are a part of the evils connected with lot-
teries. To compute their sum total would be im-
possible. The immense waste of money and time
(and time is money) by those persons who are in
the habit of buying tickets, to say nothing of the
cigars smoked, the spirits, wine, and ale drank, the
suppers eaten, and the money lost at cards, while
lounging about lottery offices, although even this
constitutes but a part of the waste, is absolutely in-
calculable. The suffering of wives, and children,
and parents, and brothers, and sisters, together with

ON LOTTERIES. 175

Appeal to the young. Influence which one person may have.

that loss of health, and temper, and reputation,
which is either dii-ectly or indirectly connected,
would swell the sum to an amount sufficient to
alarm every one, who intends to be an honest, in-
dustrious, and respectable citizen.

It is yours, my young friends, to put a stop to
this tremendous e\il. It is your dutj', and it should
be your pleasure, to give that tone to the pubhc sen-
timent, without which, in governments like this,
written laws are powerless.

Do not say that the influence of one person can-
not effect much. Remember that the power of
example is almost omnipotent. In debating whe-
ther you may not venture to buy one more ticket,
remember that if you do so, you adopt a course
which, if taken by every other individual in the
United States (and who out of thirteen millions has
not the same right as yourself?) would give abun-
dant support to the whole lottery system, with all its
horrors. And could you in that case remain guilt-
less? Can the fountains of such a sickly stream
be pure ? You would not surely condemn the
waters of a mighty river while you were one of a
company engaged in filling the springs and rills
that unite to form it. Remember that just in pro-
portion as you contribute, by your example, to dis-
courage this species of gambling, just in the same
proportion will you contribute to stay the progress
of a tremendous scourge, and to enforce the ex©
cution of good and salutary laws.

176 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Effects of theatres on health. Testimony on the subject

With this peiTiicious practice, I have always been
decidedly at war. I believe the system to be whol-
ly wrong, and that those who countenance it, in
any way whatever, are wholly inexcusable.

Section III. On Theatres.

Much is said by the fi-iends of theatres about
what they 7night be ; and not a few persons indulge
the hope that the theatre may yet be made a school
of morality. But my business at present is vnth it
as it is, and as it has hitherto been. The reader
will be more benefited by existing facts than san-
guine anticipations, or visionaiy predictions.

A German medical writer calculates that one in
150 of those who frequently attend theatres become
diseased and die, from the impurity of the atmos-
phere. The reason is, that respiration contami-
nates the air; and where large assemblies are
collected in close rooms, the air is corrupted' much
more rapidly than many are aware. Lavoisier, the
French chemist, states, that in a theatre, from the
commencement to the end of the play, the oxygen
or vital air is diminished in the proportion of fi*om
27 to 21, or nearly one fourth ; and consequently
is in the same proportion less fit for respiration,
than it was before. This is probably the general
truth ; but the number of persons present, and the
amount of space, must determine, in a great meas-
ure, the rapidity with which the air is coiTupted

Oy THEATRES. 177

Diseases produced by attending theatres. Their effects on morals.

The pit is the most unhealthy part of a play-house,
because the carbonic acid which is formed by res-
piration is heavier than atmospheric air, and ac-
cumulates near the floor.

It is painful to look round on a gay audience
of 1500 persons, and consider that ten of this num-
ber will die in consequence of breathing the bad
air of the room so frequently, and so long. But I
believe this estimate is quite within bounds.

There are however other results to be dreaded.
The practice of going out of a heated, as well as an
impure atmosphere late in the evening, and often
without sufficient clothing, exposes the individual
to cold, rheumatism, pleurisy, and fever. Many a
young lady, — and, I fear, not a few young gentle-
men,— get the consumption by taking colds in
this manner.

Not only the health of tlie body, but the mind
and morals, too, are often injured. Dr. Griscom,
of New York, in a report on the causes of vice and
crime in that city, made a few years since, says;
'Among the causes of vicious excitement in our
city, none appear to be so powerful in their nature
as theatrical amusements. The number of boys
and young men who have become determined
thieves, in order to procure the means of mtroduc-
tion to the theatres and circuses, would appal the
feelings of every vutuous mind, could the whole
truth be laid open before them.

* In the case of the feebler sex, the result is still

178 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Theatres during the French revolution. Views of Plato and others.

worse. A relish for the amusements of the theatre,
without the means of indulgence, becomes too
often a motive for listening to the first suggestion
of the seducer, and thus prepares the unfortunate
captive of sensuality for the haunts of infamy, and
a total destitution of all that is valuable in the mind
and character of woman.'

The following fact is worthy of behig consider-
ed by the friends and patrons of theatres. During
the progress of one of the most ferocious revolu-
tions which ever shocked the face of heaven, thea-
tres, in Paris alone, multiplied from six to twenty-
five. Now one of two conclusions follow from
this: Either the spirit of the times produced the
institutions, or the institutions cherished the spirit
of the times; and this will certahily prove that they
are either the parents of vice or the offsprmg of it.

The philosopher Plato assures us, that 'plays
raise the passions, and prevent the use of them;
and of course are dangerous to morality.'

' The seeing of Comedies,^ says Aristotle, ' ought
to be forbidden to young people, till age and disci-
pline have made them proof against debauchery.'

Tacitus says, ' The German women were guard-
ed against danger, and preserved their purity by
having no play-houses among them.'

Even Ovid represents theatrical amusements as
a gi'and source of corruption, and he advised Au-
gustus to suppress them.

The infidel philosopher Rousseau, declared him-

ON THEATRES. 179

Opinions of Hawkins, Tillotson, Collier, Hale and Burgh.

8elf to be of opinion, that the theatre is, in all
cases, a school of vice. Though lie had hiniself
written for the stage, yet, wiien it was proposed to
establish* a theatre in the city of Geneva, he WTOte
against the project with zeal and great force, and
expressed the opinion that every friend of pure
morals ought to oppose it.

Sir John Hawkins, in his life of Johnson, ob-
serves:— 'Although it is said of plays that they
teach morality, and of the stage tliat it is the mir-
ror of human life, these assertions are mere decla-
mation, and have no foundation in truth or expe-
rience. On the contrar}', a play-house, and the
regions about it, are the very hot-beds of vice.'

Archbishop Tillotson, after some pointed and
forcible reasoning against it, pronounces the play-
house to be 'the devil's chapel,' 'a nurseiy of li-
centiousness and vice,' and 'a recreation which
ought not to be allowed among a civUized, much
less a Christian people.'

Bishop Collier solemnly declared, that he was
pei"suaded that ' nothing had done more to debauch
the age in which he lived, than the stage poets and
the play-house.'

Sir Matthew Hale, having in early life experi-
enced the pernicious effects of attending the thea-
tre, resolved, when he came to London, never to
see a play again, and to this resolution he adhered
through life.

Burgh says; 'What does it avail tliat the piece

180 THE TODiVG MAN'S GUIDE

Johnson and Lord Kaimes. Young man in New York.

itself be unexceptionable, if it is to be interlarded
with lewd songs or dances, and tagged at the con-
clusion with a ludicrous and beastly farce ? I
cannot therefore, in conscience, give youth any
other advice than to avoid such diversions as can
not be indulged without the utmost danger of per
verting their taste, and corrupting their morals.'

Dr. Johnson's testimony on this subject is nearly
as pointed as that of Archbishop Tillotson; and
Lord Kaimes speaks with much emphasis of the
' poisonous influence,' of theatres.

Their evil tendency is seldom better illustrated
than by the following anecdote, from an individual
in New York, on whose statements we may place
the fullest reliance.

*F. B. a young man of about twenty-two, called on
the writer in the fall of 1831 for employment. He
was a journeyman printer ; >vas recently from Ken-
tucky ; and owing to his want of employment, as
he said, was entirely destitute, not only of the com-
forts, but the necessaries of life. I immediately
procured him a respectable boarding house, gave
him employment, and rendered his situation as
comfoitable as my limited means would permit.

' He had not been with me long, before he ex-
pressed a desire to go to the theatre. Some great
actor was to perform on a certain night, and he
was very anxious to see him. I warned him of the
consequences, and told him, my own experience
and observation had convinced me that it was a

ON THEATRES. 181

The youii2 man's history continued. His desertion from 'he army.

very dangerous place for young men to visit. But
my warning did no good. He neglected his busi-
ness, and went. I reproved him gently, but re-
tained him in my employment. He continued to
go, notwithstanding all my remonstrances to the
contraiy. At length my business suffered so much
from his neglecting to attend to it as he ought, that
I was under the necessity of dischai'ging him in
self-defence. He got temporary employment in
different offices of the city, where the same fault
was found with iiim. Immediately after, he ac-
cepted a situation of bar-keeper in a porter house
or tavern attached to the theatre. His situation he
did not hold long — from what cause, I know not.

' He again ajjplied to me for work ; but as his
habits were not reformed, I did not think it pru-
dent to employ him, although I said or did nothing
to injure him in the estimation of othere. Disap-
pointed in j)rocuring employnient in a business to
which he had served a regular apprenticeship,
being pennyless, and seeing no bright prospect for
the future, he enlisted as a common soldier in the
United States' service.

' He had not been in his new vocation long, be-
fore he was called upon, with other troops, to de-
fend our citizens from the attacks of the Indians.
But when the troops had nearly reached their place
of destination, that 'invisible scourge,' the cholera,
made its appearance among them. Deseition was
the consequence, and among others who fled, was
the subject of this article. 16

182 THE YOU>"G MA^''S GUIDE.

Hi? final fate. Reflections. Theatres not a new thing.

'He returned to New York — made application
at several different offices for employment, without
success. In a few days news came that he had
been detected in pilfering goods from the house of
his landlord. A wan'ant was immediately issued
for hijn — he was seized, taken to the police office
— convicted, and sentenced to six months' hard
labor in the penitentiary. His name being publish-
ed in the newspapers, in connection with those of
other convicts — was immediately recognised by
the officer under whom he had enlisted. — This
officer proceeds to the city — claims the prisoner —
and it is at length agreed that he shall return to the
United States' service, where he shall, for the first
six months, be compelled to roll sand as a punish-
ment for desertion, serve out the five years for
which he had enlisted, and then be given up to the
city authorities, to suffer for the crime of pilfering.
• ' It is thus that we see a young man, of good
natural abilities, scarcely twenty-three yeare of age,
compelled to lose six of the most valuable years
of his life, besides ruining a fair reputation, and
bringing disgrace upon his parents and friends,
from the apparently harmless desire of seeing dra-
matic performances. Ought not this to be a warn-
ing to othei-s, who are travelling on, imperceptibly,
in the same road to rum ? '

Theatres are of ancient date. One built of wood,
in the time of Cicero and Csesar, would contain

SMOKI^'G TOBACCO. 183

Their origin. Female players. Theatres in France.

80,000 persons. The fii-st stone theatre in Rome,
was built by Pompey, and would contain 40.000.
There ai-e one or two in Europe, at the present time,
that will acconmiodate 4000 or 5000.

In England, until 1660, public opinion did not
permit females to perform in theatres, but the parts
were perlbrmed by boys.

If theatres have a reforming tendency, this result
might have been expected in France, where they
have so long been popular and flourishing. In 1807,
there were m Fnmce 166 theatres, and 3968 per-
formed. In 1832 there were in Paris aione 17,
which could accommodate 21,000 persons. But we
do not find that they refoniied the Pai'isians ; and
It is reasonable to expect they never will.

Let young men remember, that in this, as well
as in many other things, there is only one point of
security, viz. total abstinence.

Section IV. Use of Tobacco.

1. SMOKING.

Smokmg has every where, in Europe and Ame-
rica, become a tremendous evil ; and if we except
Holland and Germany, nowhere more so than in
this country. Indeed we are already fast treading
in the steps of tliose countries, and the following
vivid description of the miseries which this filthy
practice entails on the Germans will soon be quite
applicable to the people of the United States, unless

184 THE YOCiVG man's GUIDE.

Use of tobacco in Germany. In the United States.

we can inducte the rising generation to turn the cur-
rent of public opinion against it.

'This plague, like the Eg3'ptian plague of fi-ogs,
is felt every where, and in every thing. It poisons
the streets, the clubs, and the coffee-liouses ; — fur-
niture, clothes, equipage, pei-sons, are redolent of
the abojnination. It makes even the dulness of the
newspapers doubly narcotic : every eatable and
drinkable, all that can be seen, felt, heard or un-
derstood, is saturated with tobacco; — the very aii*
we breathe is but a conveyance for this poison
into the lungs; and every man, woman, and child,
rapidly acquu*es the complexion of a boiled chicken.
From the hour of their waking, if nine-tenths of
their population can be said to awake at all, to the
hour of theu- lying down, the pipe is never out of
their mouths. One mighty fumigation reigns, and
human nature is smoked dry by tens of thousands
of square miles. The German physiologists com-
pute, that of 20 deaths, between eighteen and. thirty-
five years, 10 originate in the waste of the consti-
tution by smoking.'

This is indeed a horrid picture ; but when it is
considered that tlie best estimates which can be
made concur in showmgthat tobacco, to the amount
of $ 16,000,000, is consumed in the United States
annually, and that by far the greater part of this is
in smoking cigars, there is certainly room lor gloomy
apprehensions. What though we do not use the
dirty pipe of the Dutch and Gernians?' If we only

SMOKING TOBACCO. 185

Indecency of smoking. Parental example. Tobacco poisonous.

use the tobacco, the iniscliief is effectually accom-
plished. Perhaps it were even better that we should
lay out a part of our niouey for pipes, than to speud
the whole for tobacco.

Smoking is indecent, filthy, and rude, and to many
individuals highly offensive. When first introduc-
ed into Europe, in the I6th centur}, its use was
prohibited under very severe penalties, which in
some countries amoimted even to cutting oft* tlie
nose. And how much better is the practice of vo-
luntarily burning up our noses, by making a chim-
ney of them ? 1 am happy, however, in being
able to state, that this unpardonable practice is now
abandoned in many of the fashionable societies in
Europe.

There is one remarkable fact to be observed in
speaking on this subject. No parent ever teaches
his child the use of tobacco, or even encourages it,
except by his example. Thus the smoker virtually
condemns him.self in the very 'thing which he
alloweth.' It is not precisely so in the case of
spirits; for many parents du-ectly encourage the
use of ibat.

Tobacco is one of the most powerful poisons in
nature. Even the physician, some of whose medi-
cines are so active that a few grains, or a few drops,
will destroy life at once, finds tobacco too power-
ful for his u.se ; and in those cases where it is most
clearly required, only makes it a last resort. Its
daily use, in any form, deranges, and sometimes
16*

186 THE YOUJVG man's GUIDE.

Smoking injures the eyes. Produces other evils. Its expense.

desti'oys the stomach and nerves, produces weak-
ness, low spu'its, dyspepsy, vertigo, and many other
complamts. These are its more immediate effects.

Its remoter effects are scarcely less dreadful.
It dries the mouth and nosti'ils, and probably the
brain ; benumbs the senses of smell and taste, im-
pau's the hearing, and ultimately the eye-sight.
Germany, a smoking nation, is at the same time, a
spectacled nation. More than all this; it dries the
blood ; creates thirst and loss of appetite ; and in
this and other ways, often lays the foundation of
intemperance. In fact, not a few persons are made
drunkards by this very means. Dr. Rush has a
long chapter on this subject in one of his volumes,
which is well worth your attention. In addition
to all this, it has often been observed that in fevers
and other diseases, medicines never operate well
in constitutions which have been accustomed to
the use of tobacco.

. Of the expense which the use of it involves, I
have already spoken. Of the $ 16,000,000 thus
expended, $9,000,000 are supposed to be for smok-
ing Spanish cigars ; $ 6,500,000 for smoking Ame-
rican tobacco, and for chewing it ; and $ 500,000
for snuff.

Although many people of real intelligence be-
come addicted to this practice, as is the case espe-
cially among the leai'ned in Germany, yet it cannot
be denied that in general, those individuals and
nations whose mental powers are the weakest, are

SMOKING TOBACCO. 187

Practices of savage nations. The Gj-psies. Betel.

(in propoition to their means of acquiring it) most
enslaved to it. To be coD^Tnced of the truth of
this remark, we have only to open oiu* eyes to facts
as they exist around us.

All ignorant and savage nations indulge in extra-
ordinary stimulants, (and tobacco among the rest,)
whenever they have the means of obtainijig them;
and in proportion to their degradation. Thus it is
with the native tribes of North America; thus with
the natives of Africa, Asia, and New Holland;
thus with the Cretins and Gypsies. Zimmerman
says, that the latter ' suspended their predatory ex-
cm^ions, and on an appointed evening in every
week, assemble to enjoy their guilty spoils m the
fumes of strong waters and tobacco.'' Here they are
represented as indulgmg in idle tales about the
character and conduct of those around them; a
statement which can very easily be believed by
those who have watched the effects produced by
the fumes of stimulating beverages much more
* respectable ' than spirits or tobacco smoke.

The quantity which is used in civilized nations
is almost incredibly gi-eat. England alone import-
ed, in 1829, 22,400,000 lbs. of unmanufactured to-
bacco. There is no narcotic plant —not even the
tea plant — in such extensive use, unless it is the
betel of India and the adjoining countries. This
is the leaf of a climbing plant resembling ivy, but
of the pepper tribe. The people of the east chew
it so incessantly, and in such quantities, that their

188 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

What shall be done ? C]!e\vin<; tobacco. Excuses for it.

lips become quite red, and their teeth black —
showing that it has affected their whole systems.
They carry it about them in boxes, and offer it to
each other in compliment, as the Europeans do
snuff; and it is considered uncivil and unkind to
refuse to accept and chew it. This is done by the
women as well as by the men. Were we dispos-
ed, we might draw from this fact many impoitant
lessons on our own favored stimulants.

In view of the great and growing evil of smok-
ing, the practical question arises ; ' What shall be
done?' The answer is — Render it unfashionable
and disreputable. Do you ask, ' How is this to be
accomplished ? ' Why, how has alcohol been ren-
dered unpopular? Do you still say, 'One person
alone cannot effect much?' But so might any
person have said a few years ago, in regard to
spirits. Individuals must commence the work of
reformation in the one case, as well as in the other ;
and success will then be equally certain.

2. CHEWING.

Many of the remarks already made apply with
as much force to the use of tobacco in every form,
as to the mere habit of smoking. But I have a few
additional thoughts on chewing this plant.

There are never wanting excuses for any thing
which we feel strongly inclined to do. Thus a
thousand little frivolous pleas are used for chew-
ing tobacco. One man of reputed good sense told

CHEWING TOBACCO. 189

Does tobacco preserve the teetli. Subject considered.

me that his tobacco probably cost him nothing, for
if he did not use it, he ' should be apt to speud as
,much worth of time in picking and eating summer
fruits, as would paj^ for it.' Now I do not like the
practice of eating even summer fniits between
meals ; but they are made to be eaten moderately,
no doubt; and if people will not eat them loith
their food, it is generally a less evil to eat them
between meals, than not at all. But the truth is,
tobacco chewers never relish these things at any
time.

The only plea for chewing this noxious plant,
which is entitled to a serious consideration is, that
it tends to preserve the teeth. This is the strong
hold of tobacco chewers — not, generally, when
they commence the practice, but as soon as they
find themselves slaves to it.

Now the truth appears to be this :

1. 'When a tooth is decayed in such a manner
as to leave the nerve exposed, there is no doubt
that the powerful stimulus of tobacco must greatly
diminish its sensibility. But there are very many
other substances, less poisonous, whose occasional
application would accomplish the same result, and
without deadening, at the same time, the sensibili-
ties of the whole system, as tobacco does.

2. The person who chews tobacco, generally
puts a piece in his mouth immediately after eating.
This is immediately moved from place to place,
and not only performs, in some measure, the offices

190 THE YODiVG MAN's GUIDE.

Evils of snuff taking. Chesterfield's opinion.

of a brush and tootlipick, but. produces a sudden
flow of saliva ; and in consequence of both of these
causes combined, the teeth are effectually cleansed ;
and cleanliness is undoubtedly one of the most
effectual preventives of decay in teeth yet know^n.
Yet there are far better means of cleansing the
mouth and teeth after eating than by means of
tobacco.

If there be any other known reasons why tobac-
co should preserve teeth, I am ignorant of them.
There are then no arguments of any weight for
using it ; while there ai*e a multitude of very strong
reasons against it. I might add them, in this place,
but it appears to me unnecessary.

3. TAKING SNUFF.

I have seen many individuals who would not,
on any account whatever, use spirits, or chew to-
bacco ; but who would not hiesitate to dry u]) theh*
nasal membrant-s, injure their speech, mdiice ca-
tan'hal affections, and besmear their face, clothes,
books, &c. with snuff. This, however common,
appears to me ridiculous. Almost all the serious
evils which result from smoking, and chewing, fol-
low the practice of snuffing powdered tobacco into
the nose. Even Chestei-field opposes it, when after
characterizing all use of tobacco or snuff, in any
form, as both vulgar and filthy, he adds : ' Besides,
snuff-takers are generally very dull and shallow peo-
ple, and have recourse to it merely as a fillip to the

TAKING SNUFF. 191

Painful diseases produced by snuff takin?. Recreation3.

brain ; by all means, therefore, avoid the iilthy cils-
tom.' This censure, though rather severe, is equal-
ly applicable to smoking and chewing.

Naturalists say there is one species of maggot
fly that mistakes the odor of some kinds of snuff
for that of putrid substances, and deposits its eggs
in it. In warm weather therefore, it must be dan-
gerous to take snuff which has been exposed to
these insects ; for the eggs sometimes hatch in
two hours, and the most tremendous consequences
might follow. And it is not impossible that some
of the most painful diseases to which the liuman
race are liable, may have been occasionally produced
by this or a similar cause. The 'tic douloureux' is
an example.

A very common disease in sheep is known to be
produced by worms in cavities which communi-
cate with the nose. Only a little acquaintance
with the human structure would show that there
are a number of cavities in the bones of the face
and head, some of which will hold half an ounce
each, which communicate with the nose, and into
which substances received into this orsran occasion-
ally fall, but cannot escape as easily as they enter.

Section V. Useful Recreations.

The young, I shall be told, must and will have
their recreations ; and if they are to be denied every
species of gaming, what shall they do? *You

192 THE YOUNG MAJV's GUIDE.

Recteations in the open air. Skating. Dancing,

would not, surely, have them spend thek leisure
hours in gratifying the senses ; in eating, diinking,
and licentiousness.'

By no means. Recreations they must have ; ac-
tive recreation, too, in the open air. Some of the
most appropriate are playing ball, quoits, ninepins,
and other athletic exercises ; but in no case for
money, or any similar consideration. Skating is a
good exercise in its proper season, if followed
with gi-eat caution. Dancing, for those who sit
much, such as pupils m school, tailors and shoe-
makers, would be an appropriate exercise, if it were
not perpetually abused. By assembling in large
crowds, continuing it late at evening, and then sally-
ing out in a perspiration, into the cold or damp
night air, a thousand times more mischief has been
done, than all the benefit which it has afforded
would balance. It were greatl}'" to be wished that
this exercise might be regulated by those rules
which human experience has indicated, instead of
being subject to the whun and caprice of fashion.
It is a great pity an exercise so valuable to the se-
dentary, and especially those who sit much, of both
sexes, should be so managed as to injure half the
world, and excite against it the prejudices of the
other half

I have said that the young must have recreations,
and generally in the open air. The reason why
they should usually be conducted in the open air,
is, that their ordinaiy occupations too frequently

USEFUL RECREATIONS. 193

Fire-side recreations Books. Newspapers. Lyceums. Anecdote.

confine them within doors, and of course in an
atmosphere more or less vitiated. Farmers, gar-
deners, rope makers, and pei-sons whose occupa
tions ai'e of an active nature, do not need out-of-
door sports at all. Their recreations should be by
the fire side. Not with cards or dice, nor in the
company of those whose company is not worth
having. But the book, the newspaper, conversa-
tion, or the lyceum, will be the appropriate re-
creations for these classes, and will be found in the
highest degree satisfactoiy. For the evening, the
lyceum is particulai'ly adapted, because laboring
young men are often too much fatigued at night,
to think, closely ; and the lyceum, or conversation,
will be more agreeable, and not less useful. But the
family circle may of itself constitute a lyceum, and
the book or the newspaper may be made the sub-
ject of discussion. I have known the heads of
families in one neighborhood greatly improved,
and the whole neighborhood deriv^e an impulse,
fi-om the practice of meetmg one evening in the
week, to read the news together, and converse on
the more interesting intelligence of the day.

Some strongly recommend 'the sports of the
field,' and talk with enthusiasm of ' hunting, cours-
ing, fishing ; ' and of ' dogs and horses.' But these
are no recreations for me. True they are healthy
to the body; but not to the morals. This I say
confidently, although some of my readers may

17

194 THE YOUJVG man's GUIDE.

Field sports. Their cruelty. They are unchristian.

smile, and call it an affectation of sensibility. Yet
with Cowper,

' I would not enter on ray list of friends

The man who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.'

If the leading objects of field sports were to pro-
cure sustenance, I would not say a word. But
the very term sports, implies something different.
And shall we sport with life — even that of the
inferior animals? That which we cannot give,
shall we presumptuously dare to take away, and
as our only apology say, ' Am I not in sport ? '

Besides, other amusements equally healthy, and
if we are accustomed to them, equally pleasant,
and much more rational, can be substituted. What
they ai*e, I have mentioned, at least in part. How
a sensible man, and especially a Christian, can
hunt or fish, when he would not do it, were it not
for the pleasure he enjoys in the cruelty it in-
volves ; — how, above all, a wise father can recom-
mend it to his children, or to others, I am utterly
unable to conceive !

CHAPTER IV.

Xmprobcment of t$e iHinU.

Sectio>' I. Habit of Ohservation.

*YouR eyes open, your thoughts close, will go
safe through the world,' is a maxim which some
have laid down ; but it savors rather too much of
selfishness. 'You may learn fi'om others all you
can, but you are to give them as little opportunity
as possible for learning from you,' seems to be the
language, properly mterpreted. Suppose every
one took the advice, and endeavored to keep his
thoughts close, for fear he should either be misun-
derstood, or thought wanting in wisdom; what
would become of the pleasures of conversation?
Yet these make up a very considerable item of the
happiness of human life.

I have sometimes thought with Dr. Rush, that
taciturnity, though often regarded as a mark of
wisdom, is rather the effect of a 'want of ideas.'
The doctor mentions the taciturnity of the Ameri-
can Indians as a case in point. Even in civilized
company, he believes that with one or two ex-
ceptions, an indisposition to join in conversation

196 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Observation. Difference in the power of acquiring the habit

'in nine cases out often, is a mark of stupidity,'
and presently adds ; ' Ideas, v/hether acquired
from books or by reflection, produce a plethora in
the mincl, which can only be relieved by depletion
from the pen or tongue.'

'Keep your eyes open,' however, is judicious
advice. How many who have the eyes of their
body open, keep the eyes of the soul perpetually
shut up. ' Seeing, they see not.' Such persons,
on arriving at the age of three or four score, may
lay claim to superior wisdom on account of supe-
rior age, but their claims ought not to be admitted.
A person who has the eyes both of his mind and
body open, will derive more wisdom from one
year's experience, than those who neglect to ob-
serve for themselves, from ten. Thus at thirty,
with ten years' acquaintance with men, manners
and things, a person may be wiser than another
at three times thirty, with seven tijmes ten years
of what he calls experience. Sound practical wis-
dom, cannot, it is true, be rapidly acquired any
where but in the school of experience, but the
world abounds with men who are old enough to
be wise, and yet are very ignorant. Let it be
your fixed resolution not to belong to this class.

But in order to have the mental eyes open, the
external eyes should be active. We should, as a
genera] rule, see what is going on around us.
There are indeed seasons, occurring in the school
or the closet, when abstraction is desh*able; but

OBSERVATION. 197

A paradox explained. Anecdote of Dr. Dwight. Pedantry.

speaking generally, we should 'keep our eyes
open.'

It is hence easy to see why some men who are
accounted learned, are yet in common life very
great fools. Is it not because their eyes have been
shut to every thing but books, and schools, and
colleges, and universities ?

The late Dr. Dwight was an eminent instance
of keeping up an acquaintance both with books,
and the world m which he lived and acted. In
his walks, or wherever he happened to be, no-
thing could escape his eye. 'Not a bu'd could
fly up,' says one of his students, 'but he observ-
ed it.' And he endeavored to establish the same
habit of obsei-vation m others. Riding in a chaise,
one day, with a student of his, who was apt to
be abstracted from surrounding thmgs, he sudden-
ly exclaimed, ahxiost indignant at his indifference,
' S — keep your eyes open ! ' The lesson was not
lost. It made a deep impression on the mind of
the student. Though by no means distinguished
in his class, he has outstripped many, if not the
most of them, in actual and practical usefulness;
and to this hour, he attributes much of his success
to tlie foregomg circumstance.

There is a pedantry in these things, however,
which is not only fulsome, but tends to defeat our
very purpose. It is not quite sufiicient that we
merely bestow a passing glance on objects, they
must strike deep. If they do not, they had better
17*

198 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Affectation of knowledge. Anecdote of the elder Pliny.

not have been seen at all ; since the habit of ' see-
ing not,' while we appear to ' see,' has been all the
while strengthening.

It cannot be denied that a person who shall take
the advice I have given, may, with a portion of
his fellow men, gain less credit than if he adopted
a different course. There is a certain surgeon, in
one of the New England States, who has acquired
much popularity by reading as he travels along.
Seldom or never, say his admirers, is he seen in
his can'iage without a book in his hand, or at his
side. But such popularity is usually of a mush-
room character. There may be pressing occasions
which render it the duty of a surgeon to consult
his books, while in his carriage; but these occa-
sions can never be of frequent occurrence. It is
far better that he should be reading lessons from
the gi'eat and open volume of nature.

Nor does it add, in any degree, to the just re-
spect due to the wisdom of either of the Plinys,
that the elder ' never travelled without a book and
a portable vn^iting desk by his side, ' and that the
younger read upon all occasions, whether riding,
walking, or sitting.' I cannot doubt that, wise as
they were in books and philosophy, they would
have secured a much greater fund of practical wis-
dom, had they left their books and writing desks
at home, and 'kept their eyes open' to surrounding
objects.

There is another thing mentioned of Pliny the

RULES FOR CONVERSATION. 199

Improvement from conveisation. Every one has his excellences.

elder, which is equally objectionable. It is said
that a person read to him during his meals. I
have given my views on this point in Chapter I.

Section II. Rules for Conversation.

The bee has the art of extracting honey from
every flower which contains it, even from some
which are not a little nauseous or poisonous. It
has also been said that the conversation of every
individual, whatever may be the condition of his
mind or circumstances, may be made a means of
improvement. How happy would it be, then, if
man possessed the skill of the bee, and knew how
to extract the good, and reject the bad or useless!

Something on this subject is, mdeed, known.
There are rules, by the observance of which we
may derive much valuable information from the
conversation of those among whom we live, even
though it should relate to the most ordinary sub-
jects and concerns. And not only so, we may of-
ten devise means to change the conversation, either
directly, by gradually introducing other topics of
discourse, or indirectly, by patient attempts to en-
large and improve and elevate the minds of our
associates.

Every individual has excellences; and almost
every person, however ignorant, has thought upon
Bome one subject more than many, — perhaps most
— otJiers. Some excel in the knowledge of hus

200 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

A useful rule. Hero of the circle. An objection.

bandry, some in gardening, some in mechanics, or
manufactures, some in mathematics, and so on.
In all your conversation, then, it will be well to
ascertain as nearly as you can wherein the skill
and excellence of an individual lies, and put him
upon his favorite subject. Nor is this difficult.
Every one will^ of his own accord, fall to talking
on his favorite topic, if you will follow, and not
attempt to Itad him.

Except in a few rare cases, every one wishes to
be the hero of the circle where he is conversing.
If, therefore, you seek to improve in the greatest
possible degree, from the conversation of those
among whom you may be thrown, you will suffer
a companion to take his own course, and ' out of the
abundance of his heart,' let his 'mouth speak.'
By this means you may easily collect the worth
and excellence of every one you meet with ; and
be able to put it together for your own use upon
future occasions.

The common objections to the views here pre-
sented, are, that they encourage dissimulation.
But this does not appear to me to be the fact. In
eufferiug a person, for the space of a single con-
versation, to be the hero of the circle, we do not
of necessity concede his superiority generally ; we
only help him to be useful to the company. It
often happens that you are throAvn among persons
whom you cannot benefit by becoming the hero
of the circle yourself) for they will not listen to

RULES FOR CONVERSATION. 201

Avoid interrupting others. Shun the wanton and profane.

you ; and perhaps will not understand your terms,
if tliey do. If, however, there appear to be others
in the company whose object, like your own, is
improvement, you might expose yourself to the
just charge of being selfish, should you refuse to con-
verse upon your own favorite topics in your turn ;
and thus to let the good deed go round.

Never interrupt another, but hear him out. You
will understand hun the better for it, and be able
to give him the better answer. If you only give
him an oppoitunitj', he may say something which
you have not yet heard, or explain what you did
not fully understand, or even mention something
which you did not expect.

There are indiWduals with whom you may oc-
casionally come in contact, from whose conversa-
tion you will hardly derive much benefit at all.
Such are those who use wanton, or obscene, or
profane language. For, besides the almost utter
hopelessness of deriving any benefit from such per-
sons, and the pain you must inevitably suffer in
hearing them, you put your own reputation at
hazard. 'A man is known by the company he
keeps;' take care therefore how you frequent the
company of the swearer or the sensualist. A\^id,
too, the known liar, for similar reasons.

If you speak in company, it is not only modest
but wise to speak late ; for by this means, you will
be able to render your convereation more accept-
able, and to weigh beforehand the importance of

202 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Speak in few words Be calm. Avoid finesse.

what you utter ; and you will be less likely to vio-
late the good old rule, 'think twice before you
speak once.' Let your words be as few as will
express the sense which you wish to convey, es-
pecially when strangers or men of much greater
experience than yourself are present; and above
all, be cai'eful that what you say be strictly tnie.

Do not suffer your feelings to betray you into
too gi'eat eai'nestness, or vehemence ; and never be
overbearing. Avoid trinmphing over an antag-
onist, even though you might reasonably do so.
You gain nothing. On the contrary, you often
confirm him in his erroneous opinions. At least,
you prejudice him against yourself Zimmerman
insists that we should suffer an antagonist to get
the victory over us occasionally, in order to raise his
respect for himself. All Jintsse of this kind, how-
ever, as Christians, I thmk it better to avoid.

Section III. On Books, and Study.

It may excite some surprise that books, and
study, do not occupy a more conspicuous place in
this work. There are several reasons for this cir-
cuftistance. The first is, a wish to counteract the
prevailing tendeiiey to make too much of books
as a means of forming character. The second is,
because the choice of these depends more upon
parents and teachers than upon the individual hun-
self ; and if they have neglected to lay the founda-

O-V BOOKS AND STUDY. 203

Metliod3 of improvement. Debating societies. Xewspapers.

tiou of a desire for mental ijnprovement, there is
less probability that any advice I may give on this
subject will be serviceable, than on most others.

And yet, no young man, at any age, ought to
despair of establishing such habits of body and
mind as he believes v^ould contribute to his use-
fulness. He hates the sight of a book perhaps;
but what then? This prejudice may, in a meas-
ure, be removed. Not at once, it is ti'ue, but gradu-
ally. Not by compelling himself to read or study
against his inclination ; for little will be accom-
plished when it goes ' against the grain.' But there
are means better and more effective than these ;
some of which I will now proceed to point out

Let him attach hunself to some respectable lyce-
um or debating society. Most young men are
willing to attend a lyceum, occasionally ; and thanks
to the spirit of the times and those who have
zealously labored to produce the present state of
things, these institutions eveiy where abound. Let
him now and then take part in a discussion, if it be,
at fii-st, only to say a few words. The moment he
can awaken an interest in almost any subject what-
ever, that moment he will, of necessity, seek for
information in regai'd to it. He will seek it, not
only in conversation, but in newspapers. These, if
well selected, will in their turn refer him to books
of travels. Gradually he will find histories, if not
written in too dry a manner, sources of dehght.
Thus he will proceed, step by step, till he finds

204 THE rouNCr man's guide.

Avoid studying too long. An erroneous impression corrected.

himself quite attached to reading of vai-ious des-
criptions.

There is one caution to be observed here, which
is, not to read too long or too much at once. When-
ever a book, or even a newspaper, begms to be
irksome, let it be laid aside for the time. In this
way you will return to it, at the next leisure mo-
ment, with increased pleasure.

A course not unlike that which I have been
describing, faithfully and perseveringly followed,
would in nine cases in ten, be successful. Indeed,
I never yet knew of a single failure. One great
pomt is, to be thoroughly convinced of its im-
portance. No young man can reasonably expect
success, unless he enters upon his work with
his whole heart, and pursues it with unth'uig as-
siduity.

Of the necessity of improvement,- veiy few young
men seem to have doubts. But there is a diffi-
culty which many feel, which it will require no
little effort to remove, because it is one of long
standing, and wrought into all the arrangements of
civilized society. I allude to the prevailing im-
pression that very little can be done to improve
the mind beyond a certain age, and the limit is
often fixed at eighteen or twenty years. We hear
it, indeed, asserted, that nothing can be done after
thirty ; but the general belief is that most men can-
not do much after twenty : or at least that it will
cost much hai'der effort and study.

ON BOOKS AND STUDY. 205

Self education. On beginning study late in life.

Now, I would be the last to encourage any young
person in wasting, or even undervaluing his early
years; for youth is a golden period, and every
moment well spent will be to the future what good
seed, weU planted in its season, is to the husband-
man.

The tiuth is, that what we commonly call a
course of education, is only a course which pre-
pares a young man to educate himself It is giving
him the keys of knowledge. But who will sit
down contentedly and cease to make effort, the
moment he obtains the keys to the most valuable
of treasures ? It is strange, indeed, that we should
so long have talked of finishing an education, when
we have only just prepared ourselves to begin it.

If any young man at twenty, twenty-five, or
thirty, finds himself ignorant, whether the fault is
his own or that of others, let him not for one single
moment regard his age as presenting a serious ob-
stacle to improvement. Should these remarks meet
the eye of any such individual, let me prevail with
him, when I urge him to make an effort. Not
a momentary effort, either; let him take time for
his experiment. Even Rome was not built in a
day ; and he who thinks to build up a well regulated
and highly enlightened mind in a few weeks, or
even months, has yet to learn the depths of his own
ignorance.

It would be easy to cite a long list of men who
commenced study late in life, and yet finally be-

18

206 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Examples of lale students. Dr. Franklin. Our indolence.

came eminent ; and this, too, with no instructors
but themselves and their books. Some have met
with signal success, who commenced after forty
years of age. Indeed, no reason can be shown, why
the mind may not improve as long, at least, as thf3
body. But all experience goes to prove that with
those whose habits are judicious, the physical frame
does not attain perfection, in every respect, till
thu'ty-five or forty.

It is indeed said that knowledge, if it could be
acquired thus late in life, would be easily forgotten.
This is ti-ue, if it be that kind of knowledge for
which we have no immediate use. But if it be
of a practical character, it will not fail to be re-
membered. Franklin was always learning, till
death. And what he learned he seldom forgot,
because he had an immediate use for it. I have
said, it is a great point to be convinced of the im-
portance of knowledge. I might add that it is a
point of still greater consequence to feel oiir own
ignorance. 'To know ourselves diseased, (moral-
ly) is half our cure.' To know our own ignorance
is the fii"st step to knowledge;, and other things
being alike, our progress in knowledge will gene-
rally be in proportion to our sense of the want of it.

The strongest plea which indolence is apt to
put in, is, that we have no time for study. Many
a young man has had some sense of his own ig-
norance, and a corresponding thirst for knowlec^e,
but alas! the idea was entertained that he had no

ON BOOKS AND STUDY. 207

Time enough for study. Alfred. Franklin. Frederick. Napoleon.

time to read — no time to study — no time to think.
And resting on this plea as satisfactory, he has
gone down to the grave the victim not only of
indolence and ignorance, but perhaps of vice ; —
vice, too, which he might have escaped with a httle
more general intelligence.

No greater mistake exists than that which so often
haunts the human mind, that we cannot find time
for things ; things, too, which we have previously
decided for oursehes that we ought to do. Alfred,
king of England, though he performed more busi-
ness than almost any of his subjects, found time
for study. Franklin, in the midst of all his laboi*s,
found time to dive into the depths of philosophy,
and explore an untrodden path of science. Fred-
erick the Great, with an empire at his direction, in
the midst of war, and on the eve of battles, found
time to revel in all the charms of philosophy, and
to feast himself on the rich viands of intellect.
Bonaparte, with Europe at his disposal, with Idngs
at his ante-chamber begging for vacant thrones, and
at the head of thousands of men whose destinies
were suspended on his arbitrary pleasure, had time
to converse with books. Caesar, when he had curb-
ed the spirits of the Roman people, and was throng-
ed widi visitors from the remotest kingdoms, found
time for intellectual cultivation. The late Dr. Rush,
and the still later Dr. Dwight, are eminent instances
of what may be done for the cultivation of the
mind, in the midst of the greatest pressure of other
occupation.

208 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Other examples. Most pe-isons can find leisure for reading.

On this point, it may be useful to mention the re-
sults of my own observation. At no period of my
life am I conscious of having made greater pro-
gress than I have sometimes done while laboring
in the summer ; and almost incessantly too. It is
true, I read but little ; yet that little was well un-
derstood and thoroughly digested. Almost all the
knowledge 1 possess of ancient history was obtain-
ed in this way, in one year. Of course, a particular
knowledge could not be expected, under such cir-
cumstances ; but the general impressions and lead-
ing facts which were imbibed, will be of very great
value to me, as I trust, through life. And I am
acquainted with one or two similar instances.

It is true that mechanics and manufacturers, as
well as men of most other occupations, find fewer
leisure hours than most farmers. The latter class
of people are certainly more favorably situated
than any other. But it is also true that even the
foi*mer, almost without exception, can command a
small portion of their time every day, for the pur-
poses of mental unprovement, if they are determin-
ed on it. Few individuals can be found in the
community, who have not as much leisure as J
had during the summer I have mentioned. The
great point is to have the necessary disposition to
improve it; and a second point, of no small im-
portance, is to have at hand, proper means of in-
struction. Of the latter I shall speak presently.

The reason why laboring men make such rapid

ON B00K3 AND STUDY. 209

Mental progress of laborers. Pursuit of knowledge in difficulties.

progress in knowledge, in propoition to the num-
ber of houi-s they devote to study, appeai-s to me
obvious. The mental appetite is keen, and they
devour with a relish. What little they read and
understand, is thought over, and perhaps conversed
upon, during the long interval ; and becomes truly
the property of the reader. AVhereas those who
make study a busmess, never possess a healthy ap-
petite for knowledge ; they are always cloyed, no-
thing is well digested ; and the result of their
continued effort is either a superficial or a distorted
view of a great many things, without a thorough
or practical undei-standing of any.

I do not propose, in a work of this kind, to
recommend to young men what paiticular books on
any subject they ought to study. First, because it
is a matter of less unportance than many others,
and I cannot find room to treat of every thing.

He who has the determination to make progress,
will do so, either with or without books, though
these are certainly useful. But an old piece of
newspaper, or a straggling leaf from some book, or
an inscription on a monument, or the monument
itself — and works of nature as well as of art, wiH
be books to him. Secondly, because there is such
an extensive range for selection. But, thirdly,
because it may often be left; to the reader's o'wn
taste and discretion. He will probably soon dis-
cover whether he is derivmg solid or pennanent
benefit from his studies, and govern himself ac-

210 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Importance of geography lo the young. Method of study.

cordingly. Or if he have a friend at hajid, who
will be likel}^ to make a judicious selection, with
a proper reference to his actual progress and
wants, he would do wrong not to avail himself of
that friend's opinion.

I will now mention a. few of the particular studies
to which he who would educate himself for useful-
ness should du'ect his attention.

1. GEOGRAPHY.

As it is presumed that eveiy one whom I address
reads newspapers more or less, I must be per-
mitted to recommend that you read them with
good maps of every quarter of the world before
you, and a geography and correct gazetteer at
hand. When a place is mentioned, observe its
situation on the map, read an account of it in the
gazetteer, and a more particular description in the
geography. Or if you choose to go through with
the article, and get some general notions of tlie
subject, and afterwards go back and read it a sec-
ond time, in the manner proposed, to this I have no
objection.

Let me insist, sti'ongly, on the importance of
this method of reading. It may seem slow at first ;
but believe me, you will be richly repaid in the
end. Even in the lyceum, where the subject
seems to demand it, and the nature of the case will
admit, it ought to be required of lecturers and dis-
putants, to explain every thing in passing, either

STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY. 211

Benefits of studying geography. How to study history.

by reference to books tliemselves on the spot, or
by maps, apparatus, diagrams, &c ; with which, it
is plain, that evejy lyceum ought to be furnished.
The more intelhgeut would lose nothing, while the
less so, would gain much, by this practice. The
expense of these things, at the present time, is so
trifling, that no person, or association of pei-sons,
whose object is scientific improvement, should, by
any means, dispense with them.

No science expands the mind of a young man
more, at the same time that it secures his cheerful
attention, than geography — I mean if pursued in
the foregoing manner. Its use is so obvious that
the most stupid cannot fail to see it. Much is said,
I know, of differences of taste on this, as well as
every other subject; but I can hardly believe that
any young person can be entu*ely without taste for
geographical knowledge. It is next to actual trav-
els ; and who does not delight in seeing new places
and new objects ?

2. HISTORY.

Next in order as regards both interest and im-
portance, will be a knowledge of histoiy, with
some attention at the same time to chronology.
Here, too, the starting point wiU be the same as in
the former case. Some circumstance or event
mentioned at the lyceum, or in the newspaper,
Avill excite curiosity, and lead the way to inquiry
I think it well, however, to have but one leading

212 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Illustration of the method proposed. Perseverance in it

science in view at a time ; that is, if geography be
tlie object, let histoiy and almost eveiy thing else
be laid aside for that time, in order to secure, and
hold fast the geographical information which is
needed. After a few weeks or months, should he
wish to pursue history, let the student, for some
time confine liimself chiefly, perhaps exclusively,
to that branch.

The natural order of commencing and pursuing
this branch without an mstructor, and I think in
schools also, is the following. For example, you
take up a book, or it may be a newspaper, siace
these ai'e swarming every where at the present
time, and read that a person has just deceased,
who was at Yoi'ktown, in Vkginia, during the
whole siege, in the American revolution. I am
supposing here that you have already learned
where Yorktown is ; for geography, to some extent
at least, shoidd precede history ; but if not, I would
let it pass for the moment, since we cannot do
every thing at once, and proceed to inquire about
the siege, and revolution. If you have any books
whatever,, on history, within your reach, do not
give up the pursuit till you have attained a measure
of success. Find out, when the siege in question
happened, by whom, and by how many thousand
troops it was carried on ; and who and how many
the besieged were.

He who follows out this plan, will soon find his
mind reaching beyond the mere events alluded to

STUDY OF HISTORF. 213

Farther illustrations. Ignorance at the present day, disgraceful.

in the newspaper, both forward and backward.
As in the example akeady mentioned, for I cannot
think of a better ; — What were the consequences
of this siege ? — Did it help to biing about peace,
and how soon? — And did the two nations ever
engage in war afterward? — If so, how soon, and
with what results ? What became of the French
troops and of the good La Fayette ? This would
lead to the study of French history for the last forty
years. On the other hand, Where had Washing-
ton and La Fayette and Comwallis been em})loyed,
previous to the siege of Yorktown ? What battles
had they fought, and with what success? What
led to the quan'el between Great Britain and the
United States ? &c. Thus we should naturally go
backwai'd, step by step, until we should get much
of modern history clustered round this single event
of the siege of Yorktown. The same course
should be pursued in the case of any other event,
either ancient or modern. If newspapers are not
thus read, they dissipate the mind, and probably do
about as much harm as good.

It is deemed disgraceful — and ought to be —
for any young man at this day to be ignorant of
the geography and history of the country in which
he lives. And yet it is no uncommon occurrence.
However it argues much against the excellence of
our systems of education, that almost every child
should be carried apparently through a wide range
of science, and over the whole material universe,

214 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Arithmetic. Its importance. An illustration.

and yet know nothing, or next to nothing, practi-
cally, of his own country.

3. ARITHMETIC.

No young man is excusable who is destitute
of a knowledge of Arithmetic. It is probable,
however, that no individual will read this book,
who has not some knowledge of the fundamental
branches; numeration, addition, subtraction, mul-
tiplication, and division. But with these, every
person has the key to a thorough acquaintance
with the whole subject, so far as his situation in
life requires. To avail himself of these keys to
mathematical knowledge, he must pursue a course
not unlike that which I have recommended in re-
lation to geography and history. He must seize
on every circumstance which occurs in his read-
ing, where reckoning is required, and if possible,
stop at once and compute it. Or if not, let the
place be marked, and at the first leisure moment,
let him turn to it, and make the estimates.

Suppose he reads of a shipwreck. The crew is
said to consist of thhty men besides the captain
and mate, with three hundred and thirteen passen-
gers, and a company of sixty gi-enadiers. The cap-
tain and mate, and ten of the crew escaped in the
long boat. The rest were drowned, except twelve
of the grenadiers, -svho clung to a floating fragment
of the wreck till the}^ were taken off by another
vessel. Now is there a single person in existence,

STUDY OF ARITHMETIC. 215

On making arithmetic practical. Value of chemistry.

who would read such an account, without bemg
anxious to know how many pei*sons in the whole
were lost ? Yet nine readere in ten \vould Jiot know ;
and why ? Simply because they "will not stop to use
what little addition and subtraction they possess.

I do not say that, in reading to a company, who
did not expect it, a young man would be required
to stop and make the computation ; but I do say
that in all ordinaiy cases, no person is excusable
who omits it, for it is a flagrant wrong to his o^vn
mind. Long practice, it is true, wiU render it un-
necessar}" for an individual to pause, in order to
estimate a sutn like that abovementioned. Many,
indeed most persons who are familar with figures,
might compute these numbers while reading, and
without the slightest pause ; but it certainly re-
quires some practice. And the most important
use of arithmetical studies (except as a discipline
to the mind) is to enable us to reckon without
slates and pencils. He has but a miserable know-
ledge of arithmetic, who is no arithmetician with-
out a pen or pencil in his hand. These are but the
.adders upon which he should ascend to the science,
md not the science itself

4. CHEMISTRY AND OTHER NATURAL SCIENCES.

If I were to name one branch, as more impor-
tant tp a young man than any other, — next to the
merest elements of reading and writhig — it would
be chemistry. Not a mere smattering of it, how-

216' THE YOUNG MAN*S GUIDE.

Cheniistrj^ for farmers. Botany. Natural History. Geography.

ever; for this usually does about as much harm as
good. But a thorough knowledge of a few of the
simple elements of bodies, and some of their most
interesting combinations, such as are witnessed every
day of our lives, but which, for want of a little know-
ledge of chemistry, are never understood, would
do more to interest a young man in the busmess in
which he may be employed, than almost any thing
I could name. For there is hardly a single trade
or occupation whatever, that does not embrace a
gi-eateror less number of chemical processes. Che-
mistiy is of very high importance even to the gar-
dener and the farmer.

There are several other branches which come
under the general head of Natural Science,
which I recommend to your attention. Such are
Botany, or a knowledge of plants ; Natural His-
Tt)RY, or a knowledge of animals ; and Geology,
or a general knowledge of the rocks and stones of
which the earth on which we live is composed. I
do not thhik these are equally important with the
knowledge of chemistry, but they are highly in-
teresting, and by no means without their value.

5. GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION.

The foundation of a knowledge of Grammar is,
in my view, Com])osition ; and composition, whe-
ther learned early or late, is best acquired by Jetter
writing. This habit, early commenced, and judi-
ciously but perseveiingly followed, will in time,

GRAilMAR AND CUMPOSITION. 217

Practical grammarians. Composition. Epistolary correspondence.

ensure the ait not only of composing well, but also
grammatically. I know this position is sometimes
doubted, but the testimony is so strong, that the
point seems to me fully established.

It is related in Ramsay's Life of Washington,
that many individuals, who, before the war of the
American Revolution, could scarcely write their
names, became, in the progress of that war, able to
compose letters which were not only intelligible
and correct, but which would have done credit to
a profound grammarian. The reason of this un-
doubtedly was, that they were thro\vn into situa-
tions where they were obliged to write much and
often, and in such a manner as to be cleai'ly under-
stood. Perhaps the misintei-pretation of a single
doubtful word or sentence might have been the
ruin of an army, or even of the cause. Thus they
had a motive to write accurately ; and long prac-
tice, with a powerful motive before them, render-
ed them successful.

Nor is it necessary that motives so powerful
should always exist, in order to produce this re-
sult;— it is sufficient that there be a motive to
write well, and to persevere in writing v»'ell. I have
known several pedlars and traders, whose busmess
led to the same consequences.

6. LETTER WRITING.

But what I have seen most successful, is, the
practice of common letter icriting, from friend to
10

218 THE YOCKG MA^'s GUIDE.

Study of Grammar at school useful, though not indispensable.

friend, ou any topic whicli happened to occur, either
ordinary, or extraordinary ; with the mutual under-
standing and desu'e that each should criticise freely
on the other's composition. I have known more
than one individual, who became a good wi'iter from
this practice, with little aid from gi'ammatical rules ;
and without any direct instruction at all.

These remarks are not made to lessen the value
which any young man may have put upon the
studies of grammar and composition, as pursued in
our schools ; but rather to show that a course at
school is not absolutely indispensable; and to en-
courage those who are never likely to enjoy the
latter means, to make use of means not yet out of
their reach, and whicli have often been successful.
But lest there should be an apparent contradiction
in some of my remarks, it will be necessary to say
that I think the practice of familiar letter writing,
from our earliest years, even at school, should,
in every instance, have a much more prominent
place than is usually assigned it ; and the study of
books on Grammar and Composition one much
less prominent.

7. VOYAGES, TRAVELS, AND BIOGRAPHY.

For mere reading, well selected Voyages and
Travels are among the best works for young men ;
particularly for those who find little taste for read-
ing, and wish to enkindle it ; and whose geograph-
ical knowledge is deficient.

BIOGRAPHY, NOVELS, &C. 219

Study of Biography. Are novels useful i

Well written biograput is next in Lmpoitiince,
and usually so in interest; and so improving to
the character is this species of composition, that il
really ought to he regarded as a separate branch of
education, as much as history or geography; and
ti'eated accordingly. In the selection of both tiiese
species of writing the aid of an intelligent, expe-
rienced and judicious friend would be of very great
sei-vice ; and happy is he who has such a treasure
at hand.

8. NOVELS.

As to NOVELS it is difficult to say what advice
ought to be given. At first view they seem unne-
cessary, wholly so ; and from this single considera-
tion. They interest and improve just in proportion
as the fiction they contain is made to resemble
reality ; and hence it might Ije inferred, and natu-
rally enough, too, that reality would in all cases be
preferable to that which imitates it. But to this* it
may be replied, that we have few books of narra-
tive and biography, which are written with so
much spu'it as some works of fiction ; and that
until those departments are better filled, fiction,
properly selected, should be admissible. But if fic-
tion be allowable at all, it is only under the guid-
ance of age and experience ; — and here there is
even a more pressing need of a fiiend than in the
cases already mentioned.

On the whole, it is believed to be better for

230 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

If not, why? Influence of newspapers. Their benefits.

young men who have Httle leisure for reading, and
who wish to make the most tliey can of that Uttle,
to abandon novels wholly. If they begin to read
them, it is difficult to tell to what an excess they
may go ; but if they never read one in then' whole
lives, they will sustain no great loss. Would not
the careful study of a single chapter of Watts 's Im-
provement of the Mind, be of more real practical
value than the perusal of all that the best novel
writers, — Walter Scott not excepted, — liave ever
written?

9. OF NEWSPAPERS.

Among other means both of mental and moral
improvement at the present day, are periodical
publications. The multiplicity and cheapness of
these sources of knowledge renders them acces-
sible to all classes of the community. And thougli
their influence were to be as evil as the frogs of
Egypt we could not escape it.

Doubtless they produce much evil, though their
tendency on the whole is believed to be salutary.
But wisdom is necessary, in order to derive the
greatest amount of benefit from them; and here,
perhaps, more than any where else, do the young
need the counsels of experience. 1 am not about
to direct what particular newspapers and maga-
zines they ought to read ; this is a point which
their friends and relatis^es must assist them in de-
termining. My purpose is simply to point to a few

OF NEWSPAPERS. 221

Ses-eral rules for selectiiip a newspaper.

principles which should guide both the young and
those who advise theui, in making the selection.

1. In the first place, do not seek for your guide
a paper which is just commencing its existence,
unless you have reason to think the character of
its conductors is such as you approve.

2. Avoid, unless your particular occupation re-
quires it, a business paper. Otherwise your head
will become so full of 'arrivals' and 'departures,'
and ' prices current,' and ' news,' that you will hard-
ly find room for any thing else.

3. Do not take a paper which dwells on nothing
but the details of human depravity. It will indeed,
for a time, call forth a sensibility to the woes of
mankind ; but the final result will probably be a
stupidity and insensibility to human suffering which
you would give much to remove.

4. Avoid those papers which, awed by the cry
for short and light articles, have rendered their
pages mere columns of insulated facts or useless
scraps, or what is still worse, of unnatural and sick-
ening love stories.

Lastly, do not take a paper which sneers at re-
ligion. It is quite enough that many periodicals
do, in effect, take a course which tends to irreli-
gion, by leaving tliis great subject wholly out of
sight. But when they openly sneer at and ridicule
the most sacred things, leave them at once. 'Evil
communications corrupt' the best 'manners;' and
though the sentiment mav not at once be received,
J9*

THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Amazing influence of newspapers. Study of politics.

I can assure my youthful readers that there are no
pubhcations which have more direct effect upon
jheir hves, than these unpretending companions;
and perhaps the very reason is because we least
suspect them. Against receiving deep or perma-
nent impressions from the Bible, the sermon, or the
hook of any kind, we are on our watch, but who
thuiks of having his principles contaminated, or
affected much in any way, merely by the news-
paper ? Yet I am greatly mistaken, if these vei'y
monitors do not have more influence, after all, in
forming the minds, the manners, and the morals
(shall I add, the religions character, even ? ) of the
rising generation, than all the other means which 1
have mentioned, put together.

How important, in this view, it. becomes, that
your newspaper reading should be well selected.
Let me again repeat the request, that in selecting
those papers which sustain an appropriate charac-
ter, you will seek the advice of those whom you
deem most able and judicious ; and so far as you
think them disinterested, and worthy of yom* con-
fidence, endeavor to follow it.

Politics. As to the study of politics, in the usual
sense of the term, it certainly cannot be advisable.
Nothing appears to me more disgusting than to see
young men rushing into the field of political war-
fare, and taking sides as fiercely as if they laid claim
to infallibility, where their fathers and grandfathers
modestly confess ignorance.

OF NEWSPAPERS. 223

Ignorance on some points. Wholly inexcusable.

At the same time, in a government like ours,
where the highest offices are in the gift of the peo-
ple, and within the reach of every young man of
tolerable capacity, it would be disgraceful not to
study the history and constitution of our own
country, and closely to watch all legislative move-
ments, at least in the councils of the nation. The
time is not far distant, it is hoped, when these
will be made every day subjects in our elemen-
tary schools; and when no youth will arrive at
manhood, as thousands, and, I was going to say,
millions now do, without understanding clearly a
single article in the Constitution of the United
States, or even in that of the State in which he
resides: nor even how his native state is repre-
sented in Congress.

Again, most young men will probably, sooner or
later, vote for rulers in the town, state, and nation
to which they belong. Should they vote at random ?
Or what is little better, take their opinions upon
trust ? Or shall they examine for themselves ; and
go to the polls with their eyes open ? At a day like
the present, nothing appears to me more obvious
than that young men ought to understand what
they are doing when they concern themselves with
pubUc men or public measures.

10. KEEPING A JOURNAL.

I have already spoken of the importance of let-
ter writing. The keeping of a journal is scarcely

224 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Keeping a journal. Specimen. A better method.

less so, provided it be done in a proper manner.
I have seen journals, however, which, aside from
the fact that they improve the handwritings and
encourage method, could have been of veiy little
use. A young agi-iculturist kept a journal for many
yeai-s, of which the following is a specimen.

1813.

July 2. Began our haying. Mowed in the fore-
noon, and raked in the afternoon.
Weather good.

3. Continued haying. Mowed. Got in

one load. Cloudy.

4. Independence. Went, in the afternoon,

to .

5. Stormy. Did nothing out of doors.

This method of keeping a journal was continued
for many years ; and only discontinued, because it
was found useless. A better and more useful sort
of journal for these four days, would have read
something like the following.

1813.

July 2. Our haying season commenced. How
fond I am of this employment ! How
useful an article hay is, too, especially
in this climate, during our long and
cold winters! We have fine weather
to begin with, and I hoj)e it will con-
tinue.

KEEPING A JOURNAL. 225

Continuation of the subject of keeping journals.

I think a very great improvement
might be made in our rakes. Why
need tliey be so heavy for hght rak-
ing? We could take up the heavier
ones when it became necessary.
July 3. To-day I have worked rather too hard
in order to get in some of our hay, for
there is a prospect of rain. I am not
quite sure, however, but I hurt myself
more by drinking too much cold wa-
ter than by over-working. Will try to
do better to-morrow.

4. Have heard a few cannon fired, and a

spouting oration delivered, and seen a
few toasts drank ; and what does it all
amount to ? Is this way of keeping the
day of independence really useful ? I
doubt it. Who knows but the value of
the wine which has been drank, ex-
pended among the poor, would have
done more towards real independence,
than all tliis parade ?

5. Rainy. Would it not have been better

had I staid at home yesterday, while
the weather was fair, and gone on with
haying ? Several acres of father's grass
want cutting very much. I am more
and more sick of going to indepen-
dence. If 1 live till another year, I
hope I shall learn to ' make hay while
the sun shines.'

226 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Carrj'ing a blank book and pencil. Its use.

1 selected a common agricultural employment
to illusti'ate my subject, fij-st, because I suppose a
considerable propoition of my readers are fai-mers,
and secondly, because it is an employment which
is generally supposed to furnish little or nothing
worth recorduig. The latter, however, is a great
mistake. Besides writing down the real incidents
tliat occur, many of which would be interesting,
and some of them highly important facts, the
thoughts, which the circumstances and incidents
of an agricultural life are calculated to elicit, are
innumerable. And these should always be put
do^vn. Tliey are to the mere detail of facts and
occurrences, what leaves and fruit are to the dry
trunk and naked limbs of a tree. The above spe-
cimen is very dry indeed, being intended only as a
hint. Pages, instead of a few lines, might some-
times be written, when our leisure permitted, and
thoughts flowed freely.

One useful method of improving the mind, and
preparing ourselves for usefulness, would be, to
carry a small blank book and pehcU in our pockets,
and when any interesting fact occurred, embrace
the first spare moment to put it down, say on the
right hand page ; and either then, or at some
future time, place on the left hand page, our own
reflections about it. Some of the most useful men
in the world owe much of their usefulness to a
plan ]\ke this, piomptly and perseveringly followed.

PRESERVATION OF BOOKS. 227

Care of books. Cleanliness An anecdote.

Quotations firom books or papers might also be
presened in the same manner. *

Perhaps it may be thought, at first, that this ad-
vice is not in keeping with the caution formerly
given, not to read as we travel about ; but if you
reflect, you will find it otherwise. Reading as we
travel, and at meals, and the recording of facts and
thoughts which occur, are things as different as
can well be conceived. The latter creates and
encourages a demand for close observation, the
former discourages and even suppresses it.

11. PRESERVATION OF BOOKS AND PAPERS.

Let books be covered as soon as bought. Never
use them without clean hands. They show the
dirt with extreme readiness, and it is not easily
removed. I have seen books in which might be
traced the careless thumbs and fingei-s of the last
reader, for half a dozen or a dozen pages in suc-
cession.

I have known a gentleman — quite a literary
man, too — who, having been careful of his books
in his earlier years, and having recently found
them occasionally soiled, charged the fault on those
who occasionally visited his library. At last he
discovered that the coal dust (for he kept a coal fire)

* Some persons always read with a pen or pencil in hand,
and when a thought occurs, note it in a little book, kept
for the pui*pose.

y28 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Preservation of books continued. Numerous bad habits.

settled on his hands, and was rubbed off upon his
book leaves by the slight fi-iction of his fingers upon
the leaves m reading.

Never wet your finger or thumb in order to turn
over leaves. Many respectable people are addicted
to this habit, but it is a vulgar one. Besides, it is
enthely useless. The same remarks might be ap-
plied to the habit of suffering the corners of the
leaves to turn up, in ' dog's ears.' Keep every leaf
smooth, if you can. Never hold a book very near
the fire, nor leave it in the hot sun. It injures its
cover materially, and not a few books are in one or
both of these ways entirely ruined.

It is a bad practice to spread out a book with the
back upwards. It loosens the leaves, and also
exposes it in other respects. You will rarely find
a place to lay it down which is entirely clean, and
the least dust on the leaves, is readily observed.

The plan of turning down a leaf to enable us to
remember the place, I never liked. It indulges
the memory in laziness. For myself, if I t£ike
much interest in a book, I can remember where I
lefl; off, and turn at once to the place without a
mark. If a mark must be used at all, however, a
slip of paper, or a piece of tape or ribbon is the
best.

When you have done using a book for the time,
have a place for it, and put it in its place. How
much time and patience might be saved if this rule
were imiversally followed ! Many find it the easiest

PRESERVATION OF BOOKS. 229

Legitimate use of books. Common aduseg.

thing in the woild to have a place for every book in
their hbraiy, and to keep it in its place. They can
put their hands upon it in the dark, almost as well
as in the light.

Never allow yourselves to use books for any
other purpose but reading. I have seen people
recline after dinner and at other times, with books
under their heads for a pillow. Others will use them
to cover a tumbler, bowl, or pitcher. Others again
will raise the window, and set them under the sash
to support it ; and next, perhaps, the book is wet
by a sudden shower of rain, or knocked out of the
window, soiled or otherwise injured, or lost. 1
have seen people use large books, such as the
family-bible, or encyclopedia, to raise a seat, es-
pecially for a child at table.
20

CHAPTER V.

Social anO l^oral fimjrobcment.

Section I. Of Female Society, in general.

No young man is fully aware how much he is
indebted to female influence in forming his charac-
ter. Happy for him if his mother and sisters were
his principal companions in infancy. I do not
mean to exclude the society of the father, of course ;
but the father's avocations usually call him away
from home, or at least from the immediate presence
of his children, for a very considerable proportion
of his time.

It would be easy to show, without the possibility
of mistake, that it is those young men who are shut
out either by accident or design, from female so-
ciety, that most despise it. And on this account, I
cannot but regi-et the supposed necessity which
prevails of having separate schools for the two
sexes; unless it were professional ones — I mean
for the study of law, medicine, &c. There is yet
too much practical Mohammedanism and Paganism
in our manner of educating the young.

If we examine the character and conduct of

FEMALE SOCIETY. 231

Influence of woman. Follj' of overlooking it.

woman as it now is, and as history shows it to
have been in other periods of the world, we shall
see that much of the good and evil which has fallen
upon mankind has been through her mfluence.
We may see that man has often been influenced
directly by the soft warning words, or the still more
powerful weapons — tears — of woman, to do that
to which whole legions of soldiers never could
have di'iven him.

Now the same influence which is exerted by
mothere and wives is also exerted, in a smaller de-
gree, by sisters ; and indeed by the female sex gen-
erally. When, therefore, I find a young man pro-
fessing a disregard for their society, or frequent-
ing only the worst part of it, I always expect to
find in him a soul which would not hesitate long,
in the day of temptation, to stoop to vicious if not
base actions. Who would despise the fountam at
which he is refreshed daily.? Above all, who
would willingly contaminate it? But how much
better than this is it to show by our language, as
well as deeds, that we hold this portion of the
world in disdain ; and only meet with them, if we
meet them at oil, to comply with custom, or for
purposes still more unworthy ; instead of seeking
their society as a means of elevating and ennobling
the character?

When, therefore, a young man begins to affect
the loit, and to utter sarcasms against the female
character, it may be set down as a mark, either of

232 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Mistake of certain young men. Influences.

a weak head, or a base heart ; for it cannot be good
sense or gratitude, or justice, or honorable feeling
of any kind. There ai*e indeed nations, it is said,
where a boy, as soon as he puts off the dress of a
child, beats his mother, to show his manhood.
These people live in the interior of Africa, and
there let them remain. Let us be careful that we
do not degrade the sex, in the same manner, by
disrespectful language, or actions, or thoughts. We
should ' think no evil,' on this subject ; for let
it never be forgotten, that our own happiness and
elevation of character must ever be in exact propor-
tion to diat of females. Degrade them, and we de-
grade ourselves; neglect to raise their moral and
intellectual condition as much as possible, and you
neglect the readiest and most certain means of
promoting, in the end, your own comfort and hap-
piness.

If any of your elder associates defame the sex,
you can hardly be mistaken when you suspect
them of having vitiated their taste for what is ex-
cellent in human character by improper intimacies,
or still more abominable vices. The man who
says he has never found a virtuous female charac-
ter, you may rely upon it, cannot himself be vir-
tuous.

In civilized society much of our time must
necessarily be spent among females. These asso-
ciations will have influence upon us. Either they
are perpetually improving our character, or, on

FEMALE SOCIETY. 233

Habitual society of females. Its salutarj- effects. Protection.

the otiier hand, by increasing our disregard or
disgust, debasing it. Is it not \visdom, then, to
make what we can of the advantages and oppor-
tunities which their society affords us.^

The very presence of a respectable female will
often restrain those from evil whose hearts are full
of it. It is not easy to talk or to look obscenely, or
even to behave with rudeness and ill mannere un-
der such restraint. Who has not seen the jarring
and discordant tones of a company of rude men
and boys hushed at once by the sudden amval of
a lady of dignified manners and appearance?

The frequent, the habitual society of one whom
a youth respects, must have a liappy tendency to
make him love honorable conduct; and restrain
his less honorable feelings. Frequent restraint
tends to give the actual mastery ; therefore every
approach towards this must be of great value.
There is a delicacy, too, in female society, which
serves well to check the boisterous, to tame the
brutal, and to embolden the thnid. Whatever be
the innate character of a youth, it may be polished,
and exalted, by their approbation. He must be
unusually hardened that can come fi-om some
shameful excess, or in a state of inebriety, into the
company of the ladies.

Sometimes a diffident youth has been taken un-
der the protection, if it may be so called, of a con-
siderate and respectable woman. A woman of
proper dignity of manners and character, especial-
20*

234 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Choice of female society. Friendship of a mother.

ly with a few years ' advantage, can do this with-
out the least injury to herself, and without step-
phig a haul's breadth beyond the bounds which
should surround her sex. Happy is the young
man who enjoys a fostering care so important;
he may learn the value of the sex ; learn to dis-
criminate among them, to esteem many of them,
and prize their approbation ; and in time, deserve
it. It is obvious that the favor of silly, flirting
girls, (and there are some such) is not what I am
here recommending.

Where the chai-acter of such society is pure,
where good sense, cultivation, intellect, modesty, and
superior age, distinguish the parties, it is no small
honor to a young man to enjoy it. Should he be
conscious that epithets of a different and of a con-
trary quality belong to them, it is no honor to him
to be their favorite. He must be like them, in
some degree, or they would not approve him.

Section II. Advice and Friendship of Mothers.

When you seek female society for the sake of
improvement, it is proper you should begin where
nature begun with you. You have already been
encouraged to respect your mother; I go a step
farther; and say, Make her your friend. Unless
your own misconduct has already been very great,
she vidll not be so far estranged from you, as not to
rejoice at the opportunity of bestowing that atten-

ADVICE OF MOTHERS. 235

Her tact in discriminating character. Never despise her opinion.

tion to yoii which the warmest wishes for your
welfare would dictate. If your errors have, on the
contrary, created a wide distance between you,
endeavor to restore the connection as soon as ])os-
eible. I do not undervalue a father's counsel and
guidance; yet however excellent his judgment
may be, your mother's opinion is not only a help
to your own ; but as a icoinan's, it has its peculiar
character, and may have its appropriate value.
Women sometimes see at a glance, what a vian
must go round through a train of argument to
discover. Their tact is delicate, and therefore
quicker in operation. Sometimes, it is true, their
judgment will not only be prompt, but premature.
Your own judgment must assist you here. Do
not, however, proudly despise your mother's; —
but examine it. It will generally well repay the
trouble; and the habit of consulting her will in-
crease habits of consideration, and self command ;
and pron:iote propriety of conduct.

If a mother be a woman of sense, why should
you not profit by her long exercised intelligence ?
Nay, should she even be deficient in cultivation, or
in native talent, yet her experience is something,
and her love for you will, in part, make up for such
deficiency. It cannot be worthiness to despise,
or wisdom to neglect your mother's opinion.

236 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Elder sisters. Their influence. Learn to respect them.

Section III. Society of Sisters.

Have you a sister ? — Have you several of them ?
Then you are favorably situated ; especially if one
of them is older than yourself. She has done
playing with dolls, and you with bats and balls.
She is more womanly ; her carriage becomes dig-
nified. Do not oblige her, by your boyish beha-
vior, to keep you at a distance. Try to deserve
the character of her friend. She will sometimes
look to you for little services, which require strength
and agility ; let her look up to you for judgment,
steadiness, and counsel too. You may be mutual-
ly beneficial. Your affection, and your intertwin-
ing interest in each other's welfare,- will hereby be
much increased.

A sister usually present, is that sort of second
conscience, which, like the fairy ring, in an old
story, pinches the wearer whenever he is doing
any thing amiss. Without occasioning so much
awe as a mother, or so much reserve as a stranger,
her sex, her aflfection, and the familiarity between
you will form a compound of no small value ui
itself, and of no small influence, if you duly re-
gard it, upon your gi'owing character. Never fbi
one moment suppose that a good joke at which a
sister blushes, or turns pale, or even looks anxious.
If you should not at first perceive what there is
in it which is amiss, it will be well worth your

SOCIETY OF SISTERS. 237

Common civilities. Their advantages, even to yourself.

while to examine all over again. Perhaps a sin-
gle glance of her eye will explain your incon-
siderateness ; and as you value consistency and
propriety of conduct, let it put you on your guard.

There is a sort of attention due to the sex which
is best attained by practising at home. Your
mother may sometimes require this attention, your
sisters still oftener. Do not require calling, or teas-
ing, or even pei'suading to go abroad with them
when then* safety, their comfort, or their respecta-
bility require it. It is their due ; and stupid or un-
kind is he who does not esteem it so. In perform-
ing this service, you are only paying a respect
to yourself. Your sister could, indeed, come home
alone, but it would be a sad reflection on you
were she obliged to do so. Accustom yourself,
then, to wait upon her; it will teach you to wait
upon others by and by; and in the meantime, it
will give a graceful polish to your character.

It will be well for you, if your sisters have
young friends whose acquaintance with them may
bring you sometimes into their society. The
familiarity allowable with your sisters, though it
may well prepare you to show suitable attention to
other ladies, yet has its disadvantages. You need
sometimes to have those present who may keep
you still more upon your guard ; and render your
manners and attention to them still more respect-
fuL

238 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Avoid extremes. 'i'oo jjreat intimacy. Its evils

Sectio-\ IV. General Remarks and Advice,

Never seek, then, to avoid res})ectable female
society. Total privation has its dangers, as well
as too great intimacy. One of the bad results of
such a privation, is, that you run the risk of be-
coming attached to unworthy objects because they
first fall in your way. Human nature is ever in
danger of j)erversion. Those passions which God
has given you for the wisest and noblest purposes
may goad you onward, and, if they do not prove
the occasion of your destruction m one way, they
may in another. If you should be preserved in
solitude, you will not be quite safe abroad. Hav-
ing but a veiy imperfect conception of the different
shades of character among the sex, you will be
ready to suppose all are excellent who appear fair,
and all good who appear gentle.

I have alluded to the dangers of too great inti-
macy. Nothing here advanced is intended to
make you a mere trifler, or to sink the dignity of
your own sex. Although you are to respect fe-
males because of their sex, yet there are some who
bestow upon them a species of attention extremely
injurious to themselves, and unpleasant and de-
grading to all sensible ladies.

There is still another evil sometimes resulting
from too great intimacy. It is that you lead the
other paity to mistake your object. This mistake

GENERAL REMARKS. 239

Word of caution to ynun? men. Guard over llie thoughts.

is easily made. It is not necessaiy, to this end,
that you should make any professions of attach-
ment, in word or deed. Looks, nay even some-
thing less than this, though it may be difficult to
define it, may mdicate that sort of preference for
the society of a lady, that has sometimes awakened
an attachment in her which you never suspected
or intended. Or what is a far less evil, since it falls
chiefly on yourself, it may lead her and others to
ridicule you for what they suppose to be the result,
on your part, of intention.

Let me caution you, then, if you would obey the
golden rule of domg to others as you would wish
others should do to you, in the same circumstances,
and if you value, besides this, your own peace, to
beware of injuring tliose whom you highly esteem,
by leading them by words, looks, or actions, to that
misapprehension of your meaning which may be
the means of planting thorns in their bosoms, if not
in your own.

There is another error to which I wish to C€ill
your attention, in this place, although it might
more properly be placed under the head. Seduction.
I allude to the error of too great familiarity with
others, after your heart is already pledged to a
particular favorite. Here, more, if possible, than
in the former case, do you need to set a guard over
all your ways, words, and actions ; and to resolve,
in the strength, and with the aid of Divine grace,
that you will never deviate from that rule of con-

i240 THE TOUJVG man's QOIDE.

Avoid anglers. Triflers. The artful and manoeuvring.

duct toward others, — which Divme Goodness has
given, as the grand text to the book of human duty.

The general idea presented in the foregoing sec-
tions, of what a woman ought to be, is sufficient to
guide you, with a little care in the application.
Such as are forward, soon become tedious. Their
character is what no man of taste will bear. Some
are even anglers, aiming to catch gudgeons by every
look; placing themselves in attitudes to allure the
vagrant eye. Against such it is quite unnecessary
that I should warn you ; they usually give you suf-
ficient notice themselves. The trifler can scarcely
amuse you for an evening. The company of a lady
who has nothing to say but what is commonplace,
whose inactive mind never for once stumbles upon
an idea of its own, must be dull, as a matter of
course. You can learn nothing from her, unless it
be the folly of a vacant mind. Come away, lest you
catch the same disorder.

The artful and manoeuvring, on the conti'ary,
will, at a glance, penetrate your inmost mind, and
become any thing which they perceive will be
agreeable to you.

Should your lot be cast where you can enjoy the
society of a few intelligent, agreeable, and respect-
able females, remember to prize the acquisition.
If you do not derive immense advantage fi-om it,
the fault must be your own. If, in addition to the
foregoing qualifications, these female fidends hap-
pen to have had a judicious and useful, rather than

SOCIAL MEETINGS. 241

Beware of idolatry. Means of social improvement.

a merely polite education, your advantages are
doubly valuable.

The genial influence of such companions must
unavoidably be on tlie side of goodness and pro-
priety. Lovelines of mind will impart that agree-
ableness of pei-son which recommends to tl»o heart
every sentiment, gives weight to every argument,
justifies every opinion, and soothes to recollection
and recovery those who, were they reproved by
any other voice, might have risen to resistance, or
sunk into despair. The only necessary caution iu
the case is, 'Beware of idolatry.^ Keep yourself
clear from fascination, and call in the aid of your
severest judgment to keep your mind true to your-
self, and to principle.

Section V. Lyceums and other Social Meetings.

The course of my rt^marks has given occasion,
in several instances, to speak of the importance of
lyceums as a means of mental and social improve-
ment. It will not be necessary therefore, in this
place, to dwell, at length, on their importance. My
principal object will be to call your attention to
the subject in general, imd urge it upon your con-
sideration. 1 hope no young ])erson who reads
these pages, will neglect to avail himself of the ad-
vantages which a good lycourn affords; or if there
are none of that character within his reach, let him
make unremitting efforts till one exists.
21

242 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Lyceums. Their importance. Proper subjects to bring before them

Although these uastitutions are yet in their in-
fancy, and could hardly have been expected to ac-
complish more within the same period than they
have, it is hoped they will not hereafter confine
their inquiries so exclusively to matters of mere
intellect, as has often been done. There are other
subjects nearer home, if I may so say, than these.
How strangely do mankind, generally, stretch their
thoughts and inquiries abroad to the concerns of
other mdividuals, states and nations, and forget them-
selves, and the objects and beijigs near by them,
and their mutual relations, connections, and depen-
dencies !

Lyceums, when they shall have obtained a firm-
er footing among us, may become a. most valuable
means of enlightenuig the mass of the community,
in regard to the structure and laws of the human
body, and its relation to sun'oundiug objects ; of
discussing the philosophy of dress, and its different
materials for different seasons ; of food, and drink,
and sleep and exercise ; of dwellings and other
buildings ; of amusements and employments ; — in
short, of the ten thousand little things, as many call
them, which go to make up human life, with its en-
joyments or miseries. These things have been sur-
prisingly overlooked by most men, for the sake of
attending to others, whose bearing on human hap-
piness, if not often questionable, is at least more
remote.

In some of our larger cities there are respectable

MORAL INSTRUCTION. 243

Reading rooms. Libraries. Lectures. Moral improvement.

courses of useful lectures established during the
months of winter, and sometimes throughout tlie
year. Added to this ai'e reading-rooms, and vari-
ous sorts of libraries, which are accessible for a
small sum, and sometimes for almost nothing.
There have been three valuable courses of Franklin
Lectures delivered in Boston, during the three last
winters, of twentj' lectures each, for only fifty cents
a course. In most large towns, benevolent and
spirited individuals might establish something of
the same kind, at least eveiy wmter.

Section VI. Moral Instruction.

It was not my intention, at first, to say a single
word, directly, on the subject of religion, but 1
should leave this chapter very incomplete indeed,
as well as do violence to my own feelings, should I
say nothing at all of Bible classes, and other means
of religious instruction, with which the age, and
especially this part of the country abounds, not only
on Sundays, but during the long evenings of leisure
which, for a part of the year, many young men
enjoy.

Viewed merely as a means of improving the
mindj and acquiring much authentic historical in-
formation to be found nowhere else, the study of
the Bible is a most valuable exercise, and ought to
be encouraged. To adults who labor, a walk to
church, and prompt attention to the Bible lesson, is

244 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Bible instruction. Matrimony to be kept in view.

happily adapted to the health of the body, no less
than to mtellectual miprovement; and whatever
objections might be urged against subjecting in-
fants and young children who attend other schools
during the week, to the present routine of Sabbath
instruction, I am quite sure that the class of young
persons for whom I am writing, would derive the
most lasting benefit from studying the Bible.

I have made these remarks on the presumption
that they were to derive no moi'al improvement
from Bible instruction. However, I see not how
these schools can be long attended by ingenuous
minds without inspiring a respect, at the least, for
that book which is superior to all other books, and
for that religion which it inculcates ; which is above
all sect, and beyond all price.

Section VII. Of Female Society in reference to
Marriage.

It is now time to consider the subject of female
society in reference to matrimony. I shall find it
necessary, however, to make a division of my sub-
ject, reserving a more complete view of female quali-
fications for a succeeding chapter.

Whatever advice may be given to the conti'ary
by friends or foes, it is my opinion tliat you ought
to keep matrimony steadily in view. For this end,
were it for no other, you ought to mhigle much in
society. Never consider yourself complete with-

FEMAXE SOCIETY. 245

Cautions. Honorable attachments. Anecdote of John Newton.

out this Other half of yourself. It is too much the
fashion among young men at the present day to
make up their minds to dispense with maiTiage ; —
an unnatural, and therefore an unwise plan. 3Iuch
of our character, and most of our comfort and hap-
piness depend upon it Many have found this out
too late ; that is, after age and fixed habits had partly
disqualified them for this important duty.

All that has been hitherto said of female influence
bears upon this point. According to the character
of the person you select, in a considerable degree,
will be your own. Should a mere face fascinate
you to a doll, you will not need much mental
energy to please her; and the necessity of exertion
on this account being small, your own self will
sink, or at least not rise, as it otherwise might do.

But were I personally acquainted with you, and
should I perceive an honorable attachment taking
possession of your heart, I should regard it as a
happy circumstance. Life then has an object.
The only thing to be observed is that it be managed
with prudence, honor, and good sense.

The case of John Newton is precisely in pomt
In veiy early life this man formed a strong attach-
ment to a lady, under circumstances which did not
permit him to make it known ; which was probably
well for both parties. It did not diminish her hap-
piness, so long as she remained in ignorance on the
subject ; and in scenes of sorrow, suffering, and
temptation, the hope of one day obtaining- her
21*

246 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Desire to marry. Its tendency to elevate the youthful character.

soothed him, and kept him from performmg many
dishonorable actions. 'The bare possibility,' he
says, *of seeing her again, was the only obvious
means of restrammg me from the most horrid de-
signs, against myself and others.'

The wish to marry, if prudently indulged, will
lead to honest and persevering exertions to obtain
a reasonable income — one which will be satisfac-
toiy to the object of your hopes, as well as to her
friends. He who is determined on living a single
life, very naturally contracts his endeavors to his
own naiTow personal wants, or else squanders
freely, in the belief that he can always procure
enough to support himself. Indeed it cannot have
escaped even the careless obsei'ver that in propor-
tion as an individual relinquishes the idea of matri-
mony, just in the same proportion do his mind and
feelings contract. On the contrary, that hope which
aims at a beloved partner — a family — a fireside, —
will lead its possessor to activity in all his conduct.
Jt will elicit his talents, and urge them to their full
energy, and probably call in the aid of economy;
a quality so indispensable to every condition of life.
The single consideration, 'What would she think
were she now to see me?' called up by the obtru-
sion of a favorite image, — how often has it stimu-
lated a noble mind and heart to deeds which other-
wise had never been performed !

1 repeat it, I am aware that this advice is liable
to abuse. But what shall be done ? Images of

FEMAiE SOCIETY. 247

Female society a prevention of vice. Zimmerman.

some sort will haunt the mind more or less — female
influence in some shape or other will operate. Is
it not better to give the imagination a virtuous di-
rection than to leave it to range without control, and
without end ')

I repeat it, nothing is better calculated to pre-
serve a young man from the contamination of low
pleasures and pursuits, than frequent intercourse
with the more refined and virtuous of the other sex.
Besides, without such society his manners can never
acquire the true polish of a gentleman, — general
character, dignity, and refinement; — nor his mind
and heart the ti'uest and noblest sentiments of a
man. Make it an object then, I again say, to spend
some portion of every week of your life in the
company of intelligent and virtuous ladies. At all
events, flee solitude, and especially the exclusive
society of your own sex. The doctrines even of
Zimmerman, the great apostle of solitude, would
put to shame many young men, who seldom or
never mix in female society.

If you should be so unfortunate as not to have
among your acquaintance any ladies whose society
would, in these points of view, be profitable to
you, do not be in haste to mix with the ignorant
and vulgar ; but wait patiendy till your own indus-
try and good conduct shall give you admission
to better circles; and in the meantime cultivate
your mind by reading and thinking, so that when
you actually gain admission to good society, you

248 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Avoid silliness. Flattery. Pedantry. Egotism

may kiiow how to prize and enjoy it Remember,
too, that you are not to be so seliish as to thmk
nothing of contributmg to tlie happiness of others.
It is blessed to give as well as to receive.

When you are in the company of ladies, beware
of silliness. It is ti'ue that they will sooner for-
give foolishness than ill manners, but you will, of
course, avoid both. I know one young gentle-
man of great promise, who adopted the opinion
that in order to qualify himself for female society,
he had only to become as foolish as possible, while
in their presence. That young man soon lost the
favor of all whose friendship might have operated
as a restraint; but unwilling to associate with the
despicable, and unable to live in absolute solitude,
he chose the bottle for his companion ; and made
himself, and the few friends he had, miserable.

Nothing, unless it be the coarsest flattery, will
give more offence, in the end, than to ti'eat ladies
as mere playthings or children. On the other hand,
do not become pedantic, and lecture them on dif-
ficult subjects. They readily see through all this.
Neither is it good manners or policy to talk much
of yourself. They can penetrate this also ; and they
despise the vanity which produces it. In detect-
ing deception, they ai'e often much quicker than
we apprehend.

A young gentleman, in one of the New England
States, who had assumed the chair of the peda-
gogue, paid his addresses to the beautiful and sen-

FEMALE SOCIETF. iJ49

An anecdote. Be modest and respectful. Female innocence.

eible daughter of a respectable farmer. One day,
as she was present in his school, he read to her a
hymn, which he said was from his own pen. Now
it was obvious to this lady, and even to some of
the pupils, that the hymn was none other than that
usually known by the name of the ' Harvest Hymn,'
modified by the change of a few words only. How
much effect this circumstance might have had I
cannot say with certainty ; but 1 know it disgusted
one, at least, of the pupils; and I know, too, that
his addresses to the lady were soon afterwards dis-
continued.

A young man who would profit from the society
of young ladies, or indeed from any society, must
preserve a modest and respectful spirit; must seek
to conciliate their good will by quiet and unos-
tentatious attentions, and discover more willhig-
ness to avail himself of their stock of information,
than to display his own knowledge or abilities.

He should observe, and learn to admire, that
purity and ignorance of evil, which is the charac-
teristic of well-educated young ladies, and which,
while we are near them, raises us above those sor-
did and sensual considerations which hold such
sway over men, in their intercourse with each other.
He should treat them as spirits of a purer sphere,
and try to be as innocent, if not as ignorant of evil
as they are; remembering that there is no better
way of raising himself in the scale of intellectual
and moral being. But to whatever degree of in-

250 THE YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

Proper topics of conversation. Studying the same book.

timacy he may arrive, he should never forget those
little acts of courtesy and kindness, as well as that
respect, and self-denial, which lend a charm to
every kmd of polite intercourse, and especially to
that of which I am now speaking.

Whenever an opportunity occurs, however, it is
the duty of a young man to introduce topics of
conversation which are decidedly favorable to
mental and moral improvement. Should he hap-
pen to be attending to the same study, or reading
the same book with a female acquaintance, an ex-
cellent opportunity will be afforded for putting this
rule in practice.

CHAPTER VI.

^arrfafle.

Section I. JfJiy Matrimony is a Duty.

nong i
; be- I

Jther, I

Matrimontt is a subject of high importance and
interest It is important, because it was among
the earliest institutions of the great Creator
cause it has always existed in some form or other,
and must continue to exist, or societ}^ cannot be
sustained ; and because in proportion as the ends
of the Creator are answered by its establishment,
just in the siime proportion does the happiness of
society rise or fall. It points out the condition of
society in this respect as accurately as a thermome-
ter shows the temperature of the surrounding at-
mosphere. I might even go farther, and say, that
in proportion as the original and real ends of mar-
riage are answered, do the interests of religion also
rise or sink. *

This institution is peculiarly interesting from the

* Some of the topics of tliis section have been anticipated,
in part, in a previous chapter; but their importanoe en-
titk^s them to a farther consideration.

252 THE YOUNG BIAn's GUIDE.

Matrimony a school of instruction. Compared with other schools.

fact that it involves so many items of human hap-
piness. We often speak of the value o? friendship.
What friendship like that vrhich results from a
happy union of the sexes ? We talk of education.
What school so favorable to improvement as the
domestic cu*cle may be rendered ? Whether we
consider education in a physical, mental or' moral
point of view, all its plans are imperfect without
this. No man or woman is, as a general rule, fully
prepared for the humblest sphere of action on
earth, without the advantages which are peculiar
to this institution. Nor has any man done his
whole duty to God, who has left this subject out of
consideration.

It has sometunes been said, and with much truth,
that 'no unmarried person was ever thoroughly
and completely educated.* It appears to me that
were we to consider the intellectual and physical
departments of education, merely, this would be
true ; but how much more so when we take in mo-
rals ? Parents, — teachers, — what are they ? Their
labors are indeed of infinite value, in themselves
considered ; but it is only in a state of matrimony,
it is only when we are called to the discharge of
those multiplied duties which are involved in the
endearing relations of husband, wife, parent and
guardian, that our characters are fully tested and
established. Late in life as these relations com-
mence, the cuxumstances which they involve are
so peculiar that they modify the character of the

WHY MATRIMO>'Y IS A DOTY. 253

Permanency of the teachers. Eailj- marriages.

parties much more than has usually been consid-
ered.

I am fond, therefore, of contemplating the mar-
ried state as a school; — not merely for a short
term, but for life', — not one whose teachers are
liable to be changed once or twice a year to the
great disadvantage of all who are concerned, but
whose uistructoi*s are as permanent as the school
itself. It is true, that like odier schools, it may
result in the formation of bad character; but in
proportion to its power to accomplish either good
or bad results, will be its value, if wisely improved.

It is not to be denied that this view of the sub-
ject is in favor of early marriage. And I can truly
say, indeed, that every thing considered, early mar-
riage does appear to me highly desirable. And it
would require stronger arguments than any which
I have yet seen adduced, even by some of our
political economists, to make me surrender this
opinion.

The only serious objection, of a popular kind,
to early marriage, arises from the difficulty of sup-
porting a family. But the parties themselves must
be supported at all events, whether married or

single. ' But the consequences ' And what

are the consequences ? An earlier family, indeed ;
but not of necessity a larger. I believe that facts
will bear me out in statmg that the sum total of
the progeny of every thousand families who com-
mence at from twenty-five to thirty, is as great as
22

254 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Facts in relation to early marriagea Some painful cases..

tliat of one thousand who begin at from twenty to
twenty -five. I have even seen pretty large families
where the eldest was thirtj'^-five years younger than
both the parents ; and one or two uistances of nu-
merous families where marriage did not take place
till the age of forty. Physiologists have long ob-
served this smgular fact, and it has sometimes been
explained by saying, if indeed it be an explanation,
that Natm-e, in these cases, unwilling to be cheated
out of her rights, endeavors to make up in energy
and activity what has been lost in time.

The question, however, will recur, whether fam-
ilies, though equally large, cannot be better main-
tained when marriage is deferred to a later period.
And it certainly is a question of immense impor-
tance. For nothing is more painful than to see
large families, whose parents, whether young or
more advanced, have not the means of educating
them properly. It is also not a little painful to find
instances of poverty so extreme that there is abso-
lute suffering, for want of food and clothing.

But the question must be determined by facts.
And it would be greatly aiding the cause of hu-
manity if extensive comparisons were made be-
tween the pecuniary condition of those who marry
early and those who defer the subject to a later
period. But from my own limited observation I
am fully of opinion that the result of the compar-
ison would be greatly in favor of early marriages.
Should this prove to be true, the position which I

WHY MATRIMONT IS A DUTY. 255

Objections to early marriage considered.

have assumed is, I think, established ; for it appears
to me that no other argument for delay has any
claim to our notice.

On the other hand, the following, among other
evils, are the results of deferring marriage.

1. The temper and habits of the parties become
stiff and unyielding when advanced in life, and
they learn to adapt themselves to each other with
difficulty. In the view which I have taken above,
tliey become miserable as teachers, and still more
miserable as scholars.

2. Youth are thus exposed to the danger of
forming habits of criminal indulgence, as fatal to
the health and the character, as they are ruinous
to the soul.

3. Or if they proceed not so far, they at least
acquire the habit of spending time in vain or per-
nicious amusements. All mankind must and will
seek for gratifications of some sort or other. And
aside from religious principle, there is no certain
security against those amusements and indulgen-
ces which are pernicious and destructive, but
early and virtuous attachments, and the pleasures
afforded by domestic life. He can never want for
amusement or rational gratification who is sur-
rounded by a rising family for whom he has a
genuine affection.

4. Long continued celibacy contracts, the mind,
if it does not enfeeble it. For one openhearted
liberal old bachelor, you will find ten who are par-

256 THE YOUNG MAJS's GUIDE.

Bachelors not the most useful members of society.

simonious, avaricious, cold-hearted, and too often
destitute of those sympathies for their fellow be-
ings which the married life has a tendency to elicit
and perpetuate.*

* I know this principle is sometimes disputed. A late
English writer, in a Treatise on Happiness, at page 251
of Vol. II, maintains the contrary. He quotes from Lord
Bacon, that ' Unmarried men are the best friends, best mas-
ters, and best servants,' and that ' The best works, and of
greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from unmarried
or childless men.' He also introduces Jeremy Taylor, as
saying that ' Celibacy, like a fly in the heart of an apple,
dwells in perpetual sweetness.'

In commenting upon these remarks, this writer says,
* One half of the most eminent persons that have ever lived
in the world of science and literature, have remained un-
married,' and ' in the connubial state, too frequently, the
sympathies are connected within the family circle, while
there is little generosity or philanthropy beyond.' And lastly,
that ' Unmarried men possess many natural excellences,
which if not engrossed by a family will be directed towards
their fellow creatures.'

Now it is admitted that many eminent men, especially in
science and literature, have been bachelors ; and that among
them were Newton and Locke. But this only proves that
while thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow be-
ings spent their lives in insignificance, for want of a definite
object to live for, these men, having an object before them,
accomplished something. And if you could induce one
single man in a thousand, nay, one in ten thousand, to
make a similar use of his exemption from the cares of a
family, much might be expected from celibacy ; or at least,

WHY MATRIMONY IS A DUTY. 5J57

The general principle considered. Franklin's opinion.

5. Franklin says that late marriages are attended
with another inconvenience, viz. ; that the chance
of living to see our children educated, is greatly
diminished.

6. But I go much farther than I have hitherto
done, and insist that other things heing equal, the

the results of their labors might be a partial compensatioD
to society for the evil tendency of their example. For
marriage cannot be denied to be an institution of God,
and indispensable to the existence of society. And who
can say that he has purchased an indulgence to disobey a
law which is in some respects paramount to every other,
however great the price he may have paidl

That marriage tends to concentrate our sympathies within
the family circle, I do not telieve. A proper investigation
of the subject will, I am certain, prove this assumption
unfounded. Facts do not show unmarried men to be ' best
friends, masters, servants' &c. ; and I am sorry to find such
a theory maintained by any sensible writer. Some of the
illustrious examples of celibacy which are usually brought,
were by no means estimable for their social feelings or
habits. What would become of mankind, if they were all to
immure themselves in dungeons, or what is nearly the same
thing to social life, among books and papers 1 Better, by
far, to remain in ignorance of the material laws which
govern tlie universe, than to become recluses in a world
like this. Better even dispense with some of the lights
which genius has struck out to enable us to read suns and
stars, than to understand attraction in the material world,
while we are insensible to all attractions of a moral and
social kind. God has made us to feel, to sympathize, and
to love, — as well as to know.
22*

258 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Early marriage also favorable in point of economy.

young mamed man has the advantage m a pecu-
niai-y point of view. This is a natural result from
the fact that he is compelled to acquu*e habits of
industry, frugality, and economy; and is under
less temptation to waste his time in trifling or per-
nicious amusements. But I may appeal to facts,
even here. Look ai'ound you m the world, and
see if out of a given number of single persons, say
one tliousand, of the age of thu1:y-five, there be
not a gi'eater number in poverty, than of the same
nujnber who settled in life at twenty.

Perhaps I ought barely to notice another objec-
tion to these views. It is said that neither the
mind nor the body come to full maturity so early
as .we are apt to suppose. But is complete matu-
rity of body or mind indispensable ? I am not ad-
vocating the practice of marrying in childhood. It
takes sometime for the affections toward an in-
dividual to ripen and become settled. This is a
matter involving too high responsibilities to justify
haste. The consequences, speaking generally, are
not confined to this life ; they extend to eternity.

Section II. General Considerations.

We are now to enter on a most important part
of our subject. Hitherto it had been my object to
point out the proper course for you to pursue in
reference to yourself, your own improvement, and
consequent usefulness. In the remarks of the

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 259

The school of matrimony. A word from Dr. Rush.

preceding chapter, and in those which follow, you
are regarded as seeking a companion ; as anxious
to assume new relations, such as involve new du-
ties and new responsibilities.

If you ai*e successful, instead of educating your-
self alone, you are to be concerned in improving
the mental, moral, and social condition of two per-
sons ; and in the end, perhaps others. You are to
be a teacher ; you cannot avoid this station if you
would. But you are also to be a learner. Dr. Rush
says we naturally imitate the manners, and gradu-
ally acquire the tempers of persons with whom we
live, proAdded they are objects of our affection and
respect. 'This,' he adds, 'has been obsen^ed in
husbands and wives who have lived long and hap-
pily together ; and even in servants.' And nothing
can be more true.

Not only your temper and that of your compan-
ion, but your whole character, considered as phy-
sical, mental, and moral beings, will be mutually
improved or injured through life. You will be
placed, as 1 have already intimated, at a school of
mutual instruction, which is to continue without
vacation or change of monitors, — perhaps half a
century ; — during every one of the earliest years
of which, your character will be more really and
more permanently modified than in the same
amount of time at any prior period of your edu-
cation, unless it were in the veriest infancy.

Surely then it is no light affair to make prepara-

260 THE TOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Wealth, beauty, rank, &;c. only secondary considerations.

tion for a school like this. There is no period in
the life of a young man so important ; for there is
none on which his happiness and the happiness of
others so essentially depend.

Before I advert to the particular qualifications
which it is necessaiy for you to seek in so intimate
a friend, I shall mention a few considerations of a
general nature.

Settle it, in the first place, that absolute perfec-
tion is not to be found. There are not a few
young men of a romantic turn of mind, fostered
and increased by reading the fictitious writings of
the day, who have pictured to themselves for com-
panions in life unreal forms and angelic characters,
instead of beings who dwell in 'houses of clay,'
and are 'crushed before the moth.' Such 'exalt-
ed imaginations ' must sooner or later be brought
down : happy will it be with those who are chas-
tened in due season.

In the second place, resolve never to be misled
by any adventitious circumstances. Wealth, beau-
ty, rank, fi-iends, &c, are all proper considerations,
but they are not of the first importance. They are
merely secondary qualifications. Marriage must
never be a matter of bargain and sale : for

In the third place, no mamage engagement
should ever be thought of unless there is first a
genuine and rational attachment. No cold calcu-
lations of profit or loss, no hereditaiy estates or
other adventitious circumstances, though they were

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 961

Genuine aSection. A competence. Nearly equal age.

equivalent to a peerage, or a realm, should ever,
for one moment, even in thought, be substituted
for love. It is treason to Him who ordained this
most blessed institution.

But fourthly, though wealth, however valuable
in itself, is by no means a recommendation in the
present case, yet the means of a comfortable sup-
port are certainly to be regarded. It is pamful to
see a very young couple, with a large family, and
destitute of tlie means of support.

In the fifth place, a suitable age is desirable.

When we consider the varying tastes, habits and
feelings of the same person at different periods of
his life, is it not at once obvious that, other things
being equal, those persons are most likely to find
that happiness which is sought in matrimony, by
associating with those whose age does not differ
greatly from their own? It is true, some of the
happiest human connexions that ever were formed
were between persons of widely differing ages;
but is this the general rule? Would not those
who have found happiness under other circum-
stances, have been still happier, had their ages been
more nearly equal ?

There is little doubt that a person advanced in
life may lengthen his days by a connection with
a person much younger than himself Whether
the life of the other paity is not shortened, in an
equal degree, at the same time, and by the same

262 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Opinion of Spurzheim. Chateaubriand. What the Bible says.

means, remains to be determined ; but probably it
is so.

Some men and women are as old, in reality,
whatever their years may indicate, at twenty, as
others at twenty-five. The matrimonial connec-
tion then may be safely formed between parties
whose ages differ a few years ; but I think that as
a general rule, the ages of the parties ought to be
nearly equal.

Lastly, it was believed by a great observer of hu-
man nature, the late Dr. Spurzheim, that no per-
son was fit for the domestic relations who had not
undergone trials and sufferings. The gay reader
may smile at this opinion, but I can assure him
that many wise men besides Spurzheim have
entertained it. Chateaubriand, among others, in
his 'Genius of Christianity,' advances the same
opinion. Some, as we have seen, hold that no
person can be well educated without sufiering.
Such persons, however, use the term education as
meaning something more than a little scientific
insti'uction ; — as a means of forming character. In
this point of view no sentiment can be more true.
Even the Bible confirms it, when it assures us, that
the 'Captain of our Salvation was made perfect
through sufferings.'

MORAL EXCELLENCE. 263

Few female atheists. Large proportion of female Christians.

Section IIJ. Female Qualifications for Marriage.

1. MORAL excellence.

The highest as well as noblest trait in female
character, is love to God. When we consider
what are the tendencies of Christianity to elevate
woman from the state of degradation to which she
had, for ages, been subjected — when we consider
not only what it has done, but what it is destined
yet to do for her advancement, — it is impossible
not to shrink from the presence of an impious, and
above all an unprincipled atheistical female, as from
an ungrateful and unnatural being.

Man is under eternal obligations to Christianity
and its Divine Author, undoubtedly; but woman
seems to be more so.

That charge against females which in the minds
of some half atheistical men is magnified into a
stigma on Christianity itself, namely that they are
more apt to become religious than men ; and that
we find by far the gi-eater part of professing Chris-
tians to be females, is in my own view one of the
highest praises of the sex. I rejoice that their
hearts are more susceptible than ours, and that
they do not war so strongly against that religion
which their nature demands. I have met with but
one female, whom I knew to be an avowed atheist.

Indeed there are very few men to be found, who
are skeptical themselves, who do not prefer pious

264 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Common sense. Its value in a wife. Definition.

companions of the other sex. I will not stop to
adduce this as an evidence of the truth of our reli-
gion itself, and of its adaptation to the wants of the
human race, for happily it does not need it. Chris-
tianity is based on the most abundant evidence, of
a character wholly unquestionable. But this 1 do
and will say, that to be consistent, young men of
loose principles ought not to rail at females for their
piety, and then whenever they seek for a constant
friend, one whom they can love, — for they never
really love the abandoned — always prefer, other
things being equal, the society of the pious and the
virtuous.

2. COMMON SENSE.

Next on the list of particular qualifications in a
female, for matrimonial life, I place common sense.
In the view of some, it ought to precede moral
excellence. A person, it is said, who is deficient
in common sense, is, in proportion to the imbecil-
ity, unfit for social life, and yet the same person
might possess a kind of negative excellency, or
perhaps even a species of piety. This view ap-
pears to me, however, much more specious than
sound.

By common sense, as used in this place, I mean
the faculty by means of which we see things as
they really are. It implies judgment and discrimi-
nation, and a proper sense of propriety in regard
to the common concerns of life. It leads us to

DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT. tlGS

Thirst for improvement. A'o happiness without this.

form judicious plans of action, and to be governed
by our circumstances in such a way as will be
generally approved. It is the exercise of reason,
uninfluenced by passion or prejudice. To man, it
is nearly what mstinci is to brutes. It is very
different from genius or talent, as they are com-
monly defined ; but much better than either. It
never blazes forth with the splendor of noon, but
shines with a constant and useful light. To the
housewife — but, above all, to the mother, — it is
indispensable.

3. DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT.

Whatever other recommendations a lady may
possess, she should have an mextinguishable thirst
for improvement- No sensible person can be truly
happy in the world, without tliis ; much less quali-
fied to njake others liappy. But the genuine spi-
rit of improveitient, wherever it exists, atones for
the absence of many qualities which would other-
wise be indisi)ensable: in this respect resembling
that 'chai'ity' which covers 'a multitude of sins.'
Without it, almost everj'thing would be of httle
consequence, — with it, every thing else is render-
ed doubly valuable.

One would think that every sensible person, of
either sex, would aspire at improvement, were it
merely to avoid the shame of beuig stationary like
the brutes. Above all, it is most sui*prising that
any lady should be satisfied to pass a day or even
23

266 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Stupidity of some of both sexes. They live for pleasure.

an hour without mental and mora] progi-ess. It
is no discredit to the lower animals that — ' their
little all flows in at once,' that 'in ages they no
more can know, or covet or enjoy,' for this is the
legitimate result of the physical constitution which
God has given them. But it is far otherwise with
the masters and mistresses of creation ; for

'Were man to live coeval with the sun,
The patriarch pupil should be learning still,
And dying, leave his lessons half unlearnt.'

There are, — I am sorry to say it — not a few
of both sexes who never appear to breathe out one
hearty desire to rise, intellectually or morally, with
a view tg the goverament of themselves or others.
They love themselves supremely — their friends
subordinately — their neighbors, perhaps not at all.
But neither the love they bear to themselves or
others ever leads them to a single series of any
sort of action which has for its ultimate object the
inprovement of any thing higher than the condition
of the mere animal. Dress, personal appearance,
equipage, style of a dwelling or its furniture, with
no other view, however, than the promotion of
mere physical enjoyment, is the height of their
desires for improvement !

Talk to them of elevating the intellect or im-
proving the heart, and they admit it is true; but
they go their way and pursue their accustomed
round of folly again. The probability is, that
though they assent to your views, they do not un-

DESIRE FOR I.MPROVEIMENT. 267

Picture ot fashionable life. An anecdote.

derstand you. It requires a stretch of charity to
which I am wholly unequal, to believe that beings
who ever conceived, for one short moment, of the
height to which then* natures may be elevated,
should sink back without a single struggle, to a
mere selfish, unsocial, animal life; — to lying in bed
ten or twelve hours daily, rising three or four hours
later then the sim, spending the morning in pre-
paration at the glass, the remainder of the time
till dinner in unmeaning calls, the afternoon in
yawning over a novel, and the evening in the ex-
citement of the tea table and the party, and the
ball room, to retire, perhaps at midnight, with the
mind and body and soul in a feverish state, to toss
away the night hi vapid or distressing dreams.

How beings endowed with immortal souls can
be contented to while away precious hours in a
manner so useless, and withal so displeasing to
the Gk)d who gave them their time for the im-
provement of themselves and others, is to me ab-
solutely inconceivable! Yet it is certainly done;
and that not merely by a few solitary individuals
scattered up and down the land; but in some of
our most populous cities, by considerable numbers.

A philanthropic individual not long since under-
took with the aid of others, to establish a weekly, or
semi-weekly gazette in one of our cities, for al-
most the sole purpose, as I have since learned, of
rousing the drones among her sex to benevolent
action in some form or other, in behalf of members

268 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

A caution. One worse condition than celibacy

of their families, their friends or their neighhors
She hoped, at first, to save them from many
hours of ennui by the perusal of her columns j
and that their minds being opened to insti'uction,
and their hearts made to vibrate in sympathy with
the cries of ignorance, poverty, or absolute distress,
their hands might be roused to action. But alas,
the ailicles in the paper were too long, or too dry.
They could not task their minds to go through
with an argument.

Should the young man who is seeking an ' help
meet ,' chance to fall in with such beings as these
— and some we fear there are in almost every part
of our land, — let him shun them as he would the
'.choke damp' of the cavern.

Their society would extuiguish, rather than fan
the flame of eveiy generous or benevolent feeling
that might be kindling in his bosom. With the
fond, the ardent, the never failing desire to im-
prove, physically, intellectually, and morally, there
ai'e few females who may not make tolerable com-
panions for a man of sense; — without it, though
a young lady were beautiful and otherwise lovely
beyond comparison, wealthy as the Indies, sur-
rounded by thousands of the most worthy friends,
and even talented, let him beware ! Better remain
in celibacy a thousand years (could life last so long)
great as the evil may be, than form a union with
such an object. He should pity, and seek her refor-
mation, if not beyond the bounds of possibility ; but

DESIRE FOR IMPROVEMENT. 269

A point to be early settled. Of yielding to conviction.

love her he should not ! The penalty will be ab-
solutely insupportable.

One point ought to be settled, — I think unaltera-
bly settled — before matrimony. It ought indeed
so be settled in early life, but it is better late, per-
haps, than never. Each of the parties should con-
sider themselves as sacredly pledged, in all cases, to
yield to conviction. I have no good opinion of the
man who expects his wife to yield her oi)inion to
his, on every occasion, unless she is convinced. I
say on every occasion; for that she sometimes
ought to do so, seems to be both scriptural and
rational. It would be very inconvenient to call in a
iMrd person as an umpire upon every slight differ-
ence of opinion l)etween a young couple, besides
being veiy humiliating. But if each maintain, with
pertinacity, their opinion, what can be done ? It
does seem to me that every sensible woman, who
feels any good degree of confidence in her husband,
will perceive the propriety of yielding her opinion
to his in such cases, where the matter is of such a
nature that it cannot be delayed.

But there are a thousand things occumng, in which
there is no necessity of forming im immediate opin-
ion, or decision, except from conviction. I should
never like the idea of a woman's conforming to her
husband's views to please him, merely, without con-
sidering whetiier they are correct or not. It seems
lo me a sort of treason against the Grod who gave

23*

270 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

A miserable wife. A thrice miserable husband.

her a mind of her own, with an intention that she
should use it. But it would be higher trecison
still, in male, or female, not to yield, when actual-
ly convinced.

4. FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN.

Few traits of female character ai-e more impor-
tant than this. Yet there is much reason to be-
lieve that, even in contemplating an engagement
that is expected to last for life, it is almost univer-
sally overlooked. Without it, though a woman
should possess eveiy accomplishment of person,
mind, and manners, she would be . poor mdeed ;
and would probably render those around her mis-
erable. I speak now generally. There may be
exceptions to this, as to other general rules. A
dislike of children, even in men, is an unfavorable
omen ; in woman it is insupportable ; for it is
grossly unnatural. To a susceptible, intelligent,
virtuous mind, I can scarcely conceive of a worse
situation in this world or any other, than to be
chained for life to a person who hates children.
You can purchase, if you have the pecuniary means,
almost every thing but maternal love. This no
gold can buy. Wo to the female who is doomed
to drag out a miserable existence with a husband
who 'can't bear children;' but thrice miserable
is the doom of him who has a wife and a family
of children, but whose children have no jnother!

FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN. 271

Idarriage not a lottery. Anecdote of the Chinese.

If there be orphans any where in the wide world,
they are these.*

The more I reflect on tlie four last mentioned
traits of female character, the more they rise in my
estimation, eclipsing all others; unless perhaps, a
good temper.

It is said that after every precaution, the choice
of a wife is like buying a ticket in a lottery. If
we were absolutely deaf and blind in the selection,
and were so from necessity, the maxim might be
just. But this is not so. We shut our eyes and
stop our ears voluntarily, and then complain of the
imperfection of our means of forming a judgment,

* It is worthy of remark, as a well established fact, that
the Chinese have an Jsan-mon or mother, to their silk-
■worms! Her duty is, not to attend to the eggs and the
hatching, for nature has made provision for that; but to
take possession of the chamber where the young are depos-
ited; to see that it be free from ' noisome smells, and all
noises;' to attend to its temperature, and to ' avoid making
a smoke, or raising a dust.' She must not enter the room
till she is perfectly clean in person and dress, and must be
clothed in a very plain habit; and in order to be more sen-
sible to the temperature of the place, her dress must contain
no lining.

Now although every mother of children does not have the
care of silkworms, yet she has the care of beings who are in
some respects equally susceptible. And I trust no person who
knows the importance of temperature, ventilation, &c. es-
pecially to the tender infant, will be ashamed to derive an
important lesson from the foregoing.

272 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

On studying the bent of a young lady's mind Difficulties.

In truth we impeach the goodness of Him who
was the author of the instituiion.

No young man is worthy of a wife who has not
sense enough to determine, even after a few inter-
views, what the bent of a lady's mind is; — wheth-
er she hstens with most pleasure to conversation
which is wholly unimproving, or whether she
gladly turns from it, when an opportunity offers,
to subjects which are above the petty chit-chat
or common but fashionable scandal of the day;
and above all, avoids retailing it. He knows, or
may know, without a 'seven yeai-s' acquaintance,
whether she spends a part of her leisure time in
reading, or whether the whole is spent in dressing,
visiting, or convening about plays, actors, theatres,
&c. And if she reads a part of the time, the fault
must be his own, if he does not know whether
she relishes any thmg but the latest novel, or the
most light — not to say empty — periodical. Let
it be remembered, then, by every young man that
the fault is his own, if he do not give himself time,
before he forms an engagement that is to last for
life, to ascertain whether his friendship is to be
formed with a person who is desirous of improve-
ment, or with one who, living only for pleasure,
is ' dead while she liveth.'

You will say it is difficult to ascertain whether
she is fond of children or not. But I doubt it.
Has she then no young brothers, or sisters, or
cousins? Are there no children in the neighbor-

LOVE OF DOMESTIC LIFE. iJ73

flints. Reflections. Love of domestic life.

hood ? For if there are, — if there is but one, and
she sees that individual but once a week, — the
feet may easily be ascertained. If slie loves that
child, the child will love her; and its eye will
brighten when it sees her, or heai"S her name men-
tioned. Children seldom fail to keep debt and
credit in tliese matters, and they know how to
balance the account, with great ingenuity.

These remarks are made, not in the belief that
they will benetit those who are already blinded by
fancy or passion, but with the hope that some more
fortunate reader may reflect on the probable chances
of happiness or misery, and pause before he leaps
into the vortex of matrimonial discord. No home
can ever be a happy one to any of its inmates,
where there is no maternal love, nor any desire for
mental or moral improvement. But where these
exist, in any considerable degree, and the original
attachment was founded on correct principles, there
is always hope of brighter days, even though clouds
at present obscure the horizon. No woman who
loves her husband, and desires to make continual
improvement, will long consent to render those
around her unhappy.

5. LOVE OF DOMESTIC CONCERNS.

Without the knowledge and the love of domes-
tic concerns, even the wife of a peer, is but a poor
affair. It was the fashion, in former times, for
ladies to understand a great deal about these things.

274 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Family management. Influence of domestics.

and it would be very hard to make me believe that
it did not tend to promote the interests and honor
of their husbands.

The concerns of a great fomily never can be tveU
managed, if left ivholly to hu-elings ; and there are
man)'^ parts of these affairs in whicli it would be
unseemly for husbands to meddle. Surely, no lady
can be too high in rank to make it proper for her to
be well acquainted with the character and general
demeanor of all the female servants. To receive
and give character is too much to be left to a ser-
vant, however good, whose service has been ever
so long, or acceptable.

Much of the ease and happiness of the great and
rich must depend on the character of those by
whom tliey are assisted. They live under the same
roof with them ; they are frequently the children
of then* tenants, or poorer neighbors; the conduct
of their whole lives must be influenced by the ex-
amples and precepts which they here imbibe ; and
when ladies consider how much more weight tliere
must be in one word from them, than in ten thou-
sand words from a person who, call her what you
like, is still a fellow servant, it does appear strange
that they should forego the performance of this at
once important and pleasing part of their duty.

I am, however, addressing myself, m this work,
to persons in the middle ranks of life ; and here a
knowledge of domestic affairs is so necessary in
every wife, that the lover ought to have it continu-

LOVE OF DOMESTIC LIFE. 275

No domestics necessary in common life. Their inconvenience.

ally in his eye. Noi only a knowledge of these
affau*s — not only to know how things ought to be
done, but how to do them; not only to know what
ingredients ought to be put into a pie or a pudding,
but to be able to make the pie or tlie pudding.

Young people, when they come together, ought
not, unless they have fortunes, or are to do unusual
business, to thmk about servants! Sei-vants for
what ! To help them eat, and drink, and sleep .''
When they have children, there must be some help
in a fanner's or tradesman's house, but until then,
what call is there for a servant in a house, the mas-
ter of which has to earn every mouthful that is
consumed ?

Eating and drinking come three times every day;
they must come ; and, however little we may, in
the days of our health and vigor, care about choice
food and about cookeiT, we very soon get tired of
hea-vT or burnt bread, and of spoiled joints of meat.
We bear them for once or twice perhaps; but
about the third time, we begin to lament ; about the
fifth time, it must be an extraordinary affair that
will keep us from complaining; if the like continue
for a month or two, we begin to repent ; and then
adieu to all our anticipated delights. We discover,
when it is too late, that we have not got a help-
mate, but a burden ; and, the fire of love being
damped, the unfortimately educated creature, whose
parents are more to blame than she is, unless she
resolve to learn her duty, is doomed to lead a life

"276 THE YOUNG man's GUIDE.

Duties belongitig to every housewife. In particular situations.

very nearly approaching to that of misery ; for, how-
ever considerate the husband, he never can esteem
her as he would have done, had she been skilled in
domestic affairs.

The mere maniLol performance of domestic la-
bors is not, indeed, absolutely necessary in the
female head of the family of professional men;
but, even here, and also in the case of great mer-
chants and of gentlemen living on their fortunes,
sui'ely the head of the household ought to be able
to give directions as to the purchasing of meal,
salting meat, making bread, making presences of
all sorts; and ought to see the things done.

The lady ought to take care that food be well
cooked; that there be always a sufficient supply;
that there be good living without waste ; and that
in her department, nothing shall be seen inconsist-
ent with the rank, station, and character of her
husband. If he have a skilful and industrious
wife, he will, unless he be of a singularly foolish
turn, gladly leave all these things to her absolute
dominion, controlled only by the extent of the
whole expenditure, of which he must be the best
judge.

But, in a farmer's or a tradesman's family, the
manual perfoi'mance is absolutely necessary, wheth-
er there be domestics or not. No one knows how
to teach another so well as one who has done, and
can do, the thing himself It was said of a famous
French commander, that, in attacking an enemy,

LOVE OF DOMESTIC LIFE. 277

Difference between go and come. A rule. Female playthings.

he did not say to his men 'g-o on,' but '■come on;'
and, whoever has well observed the movements
of domestics, must know what a prodigious difFer-
ence there is in the effect of the words, go and
come.

A very good rule would be, to have nothing to
eat, in a farmer's or mechanic's house, that the
mistress did not know how to prej>are and to cook ;
no pudding, tart, pie or cake, that she did not know
how to make. Never fear the toil to her: exercise
is good for health ; and without health there is no
beauty. Besides, what is the labor in such a case ?
And how many thousands of ladies, who idle away
the day, would give half their fortunes for that
sound sleep which the stirring housewife seldom
fails to enjoy.

Yet, if a young farmer or mechanic marry a girl,
who has been brought up only to ''plny music ;^ to
draw, to sins;, to waste paper, [)en and ink in
writing long and half romantic letters, and to see
shows, and plays, and read novels ; — if a young
man do marry such an unfortunate young creature,
let him bear the consequences with temper. Let
him be just. Justice will teach him to treat her
with great indulgence ; to endeavor to persuade her
to learn her business as a wife ; to be patient with
her ; to reflect that he has taken her, being appriz-
ed of her inability ; to bear in mind, that he was,
or seemed to be, pleased with her showy and use-
less acquirements; and that, when the gratifica-
24

278 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

An unhappy companion. The wives of farmers and tradesmen.

tion of his passion has been accomplished, he is
unjust, and cruel, and unmanly, if he turn roimd
upon her, and accuse her of a want of that know-
ledge, which he well knew, beforehand, she did not
possess.

For my part, I do not know, nor can I form an
idea of, a more unfortunate being than a girl with
a mere boarding school education, and without a
fortune to enable her to keep domestics, when mar-
ried. Of what iise are her accomplishments ? Of
what use her music, her drawing, and her romantic
epistles ? If she should chance to possess a sweet
disposition, and good nature, the first faint cry of
her first babe drives all the tunes and all the land-
scapes, and all the imaginary beings out of her
head for ever.

The farmer or the tradesman's wife has to help
earn a provision for her children ; or, at the least,
to help to earn a store for sickness or old age. She
ought, therefore, to be qualified to begin, at once,
to assist her husband in his earnings. The way in
which she can most efficiently assist, is by taking
care of his property ; by expending his money to
the greatest advantage ; by wastmg nothing, but by
making the table sufficiently abundant with the
least expense.

But how is she to do these things, unless she
has been brought up to imderstand domestic af-
faks ? How is she to do these things, if she has
been taught to think these matters beneath her

SOBRIETY. 279

\VTiere a lady is really ignorant. Importance of sobriety.

Study ? How is th€ man to expect her to do these
things, if she has heeu so bred, as to make her
habitually look upon them as worthy the attention
of none but low and ignorant women?

Ignorant, indeed ! Ignorance consists in a want
of knowledge of those things which your calling or
state of life naturally supposes you to understand.
A ploughman is not an ignorant man because he
does not know how to read. If he knows how to
plough, he is not to be called an ignorant man ;
but a wife may be justly called an ignorant wo-
man, if she does not know how to provide a din-
ner for her husband. It is cold comfort for a hun-
gry man, to tell him how delightfully his wife plays
and sings. Lovers may live on very aerial diet, but
husbands stand in need of something more solid ;
and young women may take my word for it, that
a constantly clean table, well cooked victuals, a
house in order, and a cheerful fire, will do more
towards preserving a husband's heart, than all the
* accomplishments' taught in all the ' establishments'
in the world without them.

6. SOBRIETY.

Surely no reasonable young man will expect
sobriety in a companion, when he does not possess
this qualification himself But by sobriety, I do
not mean a habit which is opposed to intoooication,
for if that be hateful in a man, what must it be in
a woman ? Besides, it does seem to me that no

280 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Sobriety means more than mere abstinence from strong drink.

young man, with his eyes open, and his otlier senses
perfect, needs any caution on that point. Drunken-
ness, downright drunkenness, is usually as incom-
patible with purity, as it is ^^^th decency.

Much is sometimes said in favor of a little wine
or other fermented liquors, especially at dinner.
No young lady, in health, needs any of these
stunulants. Wine, or ale, or cider, at dinner! I
would as soon take a con)panion from the streets, as
one who must habitually have her glass or two of
wine at dinner. And this is not an opinion formed
prematurely or hastily.

But by the word sobriety in a young woman.
1 mean a great deal more than even a rigid absti-
nence from a love of di-ink, which I do not believe
to exist to any considerable degree, in this country,
even in the least refined parts of it. I mean a gi'eat
deal more than this ; I mean sobriety of conduct.
The word sober and its derivatives mean steadi-
ness, seriousness, carefulness, scrupidous propriety of
conduct.

Now this kind of sobriety is of great importance
in the person with whom we are to live con-
stantly. Skipping, romping, rattling girls are very
amusing where all consequences are out of the
question , and they may, perhaps, ultimately become
sober. But while you have no certainty of this,
there is a presumptive argument on the other side.
To be sure, when girls are mere children, they
are expected to play and romp like childi'en. But

SOBRIETY. 281

A voice of experience. How to maintain cheerfulness.

when they are arrived at an age whicli turns their
thoughts towards a situation for life ; when they
begin to think of having the command of a house,
however small or poor, it is time for tiiem to cast
away, not the cheerfulness or the simplicity, but
the levity of the child.

' If I could not have found a young woman,' says
a certain writer, 'who I was not sure possessed
all the qualities expressed by that word sobnety^ I
should have remained a bachelor to the end of life.
Scores of gentlemen have, at different times, ex-
pressed to me their surprise that I ^xas ^^ always in
spvnis ; that nothing pulled me down;" and the
truth is, that throughout nearly forty years of
troubles, losses, and crosses, assailed all the while
by numerous and powerful enemies, and perform-
ing, at the same time, greater mental labors than
man ever before performed ; all those labors re-
quiring mental exertion, and some of them mental
exertion of the highest order, I have never known
a single hour of real anxiety; the troubles have
been no troubles to me ; I hav^e not known what
loumess of spirits meant ; and have been more gay,
and felt less care than any bachelor that ever lived.
"You are always in spirits!" To be sure, for why
should 1 not be so ? Poverty, I have always set at
defiance, and I could, therefore, defy the tempta-
tions to riches ; and as to home and children, I had
tak(;n care to provide myself with an inexhaustible
store of that " sobriety " which I so strongly recom-
mend to others. i)4*

282 THE YOUNG MAN S GUIDE.

Reposinj? entire confidence in a companion. Cboice of one.

'This sobriety is a title to trustworthiness; and
this, young man, is the ti-easure that you ought to
prize above all others. Miserable is the husband
who, when he crosses the threshold of his house,
can'ies with him doubts, and feai-s, and suspicions.
I do not mean suspicions of the fidelity of his wife ;
but of her care, frugality, attention to his interests,
and to the health and morals of his children. Mis-
erable is the man who cannot leave all unlocked ;
and who is not sure, quite certain, that all is as safe
as if grasped in his own hand.

' He is the happy husband who can go away at
a moment's warning, leaving his house and family
with as little anxiety as he quits an inn, no more
fearing to find, on his return, any thing wrong, than
he would fear a discontinuance of the rising and
setting of the sun ; and if, as in my case, leaving
books and papers all lying about at sixes and sev-
ens, finding them arranged in proper order, and
the room, during the lucky interval, freed from the
effects of his and his ploughman's or gardener's
dirty shoes. Such a man has no real cares — no
troubles ; and this is the sort of life I have led. I
have had all the numerous and indescribable de-
lights of home and children, and at the same time,
all the bachelor's freedom from domestic cares.

' But in order to possess this precious trustworth-
iness, you must, if you can, exercise your reason
in the choice of your partner. If she be vain of
her person, very fond of dress, fond of flattery at

SOBRIETY. 283

Beposing confidence in a companion. Human nature. Anecdote

all, given to gadding about, fond of wliat are called
parties of pleasure, or coquciish, though in the least
degree, — she will never be trustworthy; she can-
not change her nature; and if you marry her, you
will be unjust, if you expect trustworthiness at her
hands. But on the other hand, if you find in her
that innate sobriety of which I have been speaking,
tliere is required on your part, and that at once,
too, confidence and trust without any limit Con-
fidence in this case is nothing, unless it be recipro-
cal. To have a trustworthy wife, you must begin
by showing her, even before niarriage, that you
have no suspicions, feai-s, or doubts in regard to
her. Many a man has been discarded by a virtu-
ous girl, merely on account of his querulous con-
duct. All women despise jealous men, and if they
marry them, their motive is other than that of af-
fection.'

There is a tendency, in our very natures, to
become what we are taken to be. Beware then of
suspicion or jealousy, lest you produce the very
thing which you most dread. The evil results of
suspicion and jealousy whether in single or mar-
ried, public or private lifl^, may be seen by the fol-
lowing fact

A certain professional gentleman had the mis-
fortune to possess a suspicious temper. He had
not a better friend on the earth than Mr. C, yet by
some unaccountable whim or other, be began of a
sudden to suspect he was his enemy ; — and what

284 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Picture of domestic felicity. A contrast.

was at fii*st at the farthest possible remove from
the trutli, ultimately grew to be a reality. Had it
not have been for his jealousy, Mr. C. might have
been to this hour one of the doctor's warmest and
most confidential friends, instead of being removed
— and in a great measure through his influence —
from a useful field of labor.

' Let any man observe as I frequently have,' says
the writer last quoted, ' with delight, the excessive
fondness of the laboring people for their children.
Let him observe with what care they dress them
out on Sundays with means deducted fi-om their
own scanty meals. Let him observe the husband,
who has toiled, like his horse, all the week, nursing
the babe, while the wife is preparing dinner. Let
him observe them both abstaining fi-om a suffi-
ciency, lest the children should feel the pinchings
of hunger. Let him observe, in short, the whole
oi' their demeanor, the real mutual aflfection evmc-
6(1, not in words, but in unequivocal deeds.

* Let him observe these things, and having then
cai?t a look at the lives of the great and wealthy, he
wi'l say, with me, that when a man is choosing
his partner for life, the dread of poverty ought to
be cast to the winds. A laborer's cottage in a
cleanly condition ; the husband or wife having a
babe in arms, looking at two or three older ones,
playing between the flower borders, going fi-om the
wicket to the door, is, according to my taste, the
most interesting object that eyes ever beheld ; and

SOBRIETY. 285

Another anecdote. A serious mistake. Charity.

it is an object to be soon in no country on e<irtb but
England.'

It happens, liowever, tlmt the writor had not
seen all the countries upon earth, nor even all in the
interior of United America. There are as moving
iDStances of native simplicity and substantial hap-
piness here as in any other country' ; and occa-
sionallv in even the hiirher classes. The wife of

»

a distinguished lawyer and senator in Congress,
never left the society of her own children, to go
for once to see her friends abroad, in eleven years !
I am not defending the conduct of the husband
who would doom his wife to imprisonment in his
own house, even amid a happy group of children,
for eleven years ; but the e.\am])le shows, at least,
that there are women fittod for domestic life in otlier
countries bt^idos England.

Ardent young men may fear that great sobriety
in a young woman argues a want of tliat warmth
which they naturally so much desire and ap})rove.
But observation and experience attest to the con-
trary. They tell us that levity is ninety-nine times
out of a hundred, the comj)anion of a want of
ardent feeling. But the licentious never love. Their
passion is chiefly animal. Even better women, if
they possess light and fi-ivolous minds, have seldom
any ardent passion.

I would not, however, recommend that you
should be too severe in judging, when the conduct
does not go beyond mere levity^ and is not border-

286 THE TOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Another mistake corrected. Temperance of mind as well as body.

ing on loose conduct ; for something certainly de-
pends here on constitution and animal spirits, and
something on the manners of the country.

If any person imagine that the sobriety I have
been recommending would render yoimg women
moping or gloomy, he is much mistaken, for the
contrary is the fact. I have uniformly found —
and I began to observe it in my very childhood —
that your jovial souls, men or women, except when
over the bottle, are of all human beings the most
dull and insipid. They can no more exist — they
may vegetate — but they can no more live without
some excitement, than a fish could live on the top
of the Alleghany. If it be not the excitement of
the bottle, it must be that of the tea or the. coffee
cup, or food converted into some unwholesome
form or other by condiments ; or if it be none of
these, they must have some excitement of the in-
tellect, for intemperance is not confined to the use
of condiments and poisons for the body ; there are
condiments and poisons to mind and heart. In
fact, they usually accompany each other.

Show me a pei*son who camiot live on plain
and simple food and the only di'ink the Creator
ever made, and as a general rule you will show me
a person to whom the plain and the solid and the
useful in domestic, social, intellectual, and moral life
are insipid if not disgusting. 'They are welcome to
all that sort of labor,' said one of these creatures — not
rationals — this very day, to me, in relation to plain

SOBRIETY. 287

l-'emalea who cannot help themselves. Unfit for matrimony.

domestic employments. — Show me a female, as
many, alas! ven^ many in fasliionahle life are now
trained, and you show me a person who has none
of the qualities that fit her to be a help meet for man
in a life of simplicity. She could recite well at tho
high school, no doubt ; but the moment she leaves
echool, she has nothing to do, and is taught to do
nothing. I have seen girls, of this description, and
they may be seen by others.

But what is such a female — one who can hardly
help herself — good for, at home or abroad ; married,
or single ? The n)oment she has not some feast, or
party, or play, or novel, or — I know not what —
something to keep up a fever, the moment I say that
she has not sonu'tliing of this sort to anticipate or
enjoy, that moment she is miserable. Wo to the
young man who becomes wedded for life to a crea-
ture of this description. She may stay at home, for
want of a better place, and she may add one to tho
national census every ten years, but a companion,
or a mother, she cannot be.

I should dislike a moping melancholy creature
as much as any man, though were I tied to such a
thing, I could live with lier; but I never could en-
joy her society, nor but half of my own. He is
but half a man who is thus wedded, and will ex-
claim, in a literal sense, ' When shall I be deliver-
ed from the body of this df?ath .^'

One hour, an animal of this sort is moping, es-
pecially if nobody but her husband is present ; the

288 THE TOUIiG man's GUIDE.

Female avarice. Woman a help meet. IMistaken notions

next hour, if others happen to be present, she has
plenty of smiles ; the next she is giggling or caper-
ing about ; and the next singing to the motion of a
lazy needle, or perhaps weeping ov^er a noveL
And this is called sentiment ! She is a woman of
feeling and good taste !

7. INDUSTRY.

Let not the individual whose eye catches the
word industry J at the beginning of this division of
my subject, condemn me as degrading females to
the condition of mere wheels in a machine for
money-making; for I mean no such thing. There
is nothing more abhorrent to the soul of a sensible
man than female avarice. The 'spirit of a man'
may sustain him, while he sees avaricious and
miserly individuals among his own sex, though the
sight is painful enough, even here; but a female
miser, ' who can bear ? '

Still if woman is intended to be a ' help meet,*
for the other sex, I know of no reason why she
should not be so in physical concerns, as well as
mental and moral. I know not by what rule it is
that many resolve to remain for ever in celibacy,
unless they believe their companion can ' support *
them, without labor. I have sometimes even
doubted whetlier any person who makes these de-
clarations can be sincere. Yet when I hear people,
of both sexes, speak of poverty as a greater calamity
than de^th, I am led to think that this dread of

I.XDUSTRT. 289

A loud call. Every person needs moderate exercise.

poverty does really exist among both sexes. And
there are reasons for believing that some females,
bred in fashionable life, look forward to matrimony
as a state, of such entire exemption from care and
labor, and of such uninterrupted ease, that they
would prefer celibacy and even death to those du-
ties which scripture, and reason, and common sense,
appear to me to enjoin.

Such persons, whatever may be their other quali-
fications, I call upon every young man to avoid, as
he would a pestilence. If they are really determin-
ed to live and act as mere drones in society, let
them live alone. Do not give them an opportunity
to spread the infection of so wretched a disease, if
you can honestly help it.

The woman who does not actually prefer action
to inaction — industry to idleness — labor to ease —
and who does not steadfastly resolve to labor mode-
rately as long as she lives, whatever may be her
circumstances, is unfit for life, social or domestic.
It is not for me to say, in what fonn her labor shall
be applied, except in rearing the young. But lal>or
she ought — all she is able — while life and liealth
lasts, at somethmg or other; or she ought not to
complain if she suffers the natural penalty; and slie
ought to do it with cheerfulness.

I like much the quaint remark of a good old

lady of ninety. She was bred to labor, had labored

through the whole of her long and eventful life,

and was still at her 'wheel.' 'Why,' said she,

25

yyO THE rOUNG MAN S GUIDE.

Great objects of life. Effects of laziness.

'people ought to Strain every nei-ve to get property,
as a matter of Christian duty.'

I should choose to modify this old lady's remark,
and say that, people ought to do all they can unthovi
straining tlieir muscles or nerves ; not to get proper-
ty, but because it is at once, their duty and their
hai)piness.

The great object of life is to do good. The great
object of society is to increase the power to good.
Both sexes should aim, in matrimony, at a more ex-
tended sphere of usefulness. To increase an estate,
merely, is a low and unworthy aim, from which
may God preserve the rising generation. Still I
must say, that I greatly prefer the avaricious being
— a monster though she might be — to the stupid
soul Avho would not lift a finger if she could help it,
and who determines to fold her arms whenever she
has a convenient opportunity.

If a female be lazy, there will be lazy domestics,
and, what is a great deal worse, children will ac-
quire this habit. Every thing, however necessary
to be done, will be put off to the last moment, and
then it will be done badly, and, in many cases, not
at all. The dinner will be too late ; the journey or
the visit will be tardy ; inconveniences of all sorts
will be continually arising. There will always be a
heavy arrear of things unperformed ; and this, even
among the most wealthy, is a great evil; for if
they have no business imposed upon them by ne-
cessity, they make, business for themselves. Life

INDUSTRY. 291

How to ascertain character. Anecdote. Reflections.

would be intolerable witliout it; and tlierefore an
indolent woman must always be an evil, be her
rank or station what it may.

But, who is to tell whether a girl will make an
industrious woman.' How is tlie pur-blind lover
especially, to be able to ascertain whether she,
whose smiles and dimples and bewitching lips
have half beretl him of his senses; how is he to
be able to judge, from any thing that he can see,
whether the beloved object will be industrious or
lazy ? Why, it is very difficult ; it is a matter
that reason has veiy httle to do with. Still there
are indications which enable a man, not wholly
deprived of the use of his reason, to form a pretty
accurate judgment in this matter.

It was a famous story some years ago, that a
young man, who was courting one of three sisters,
happened to be on a visit to her, when all the three
were present, and when one said to the others, ' I
wonder where our needle is.' Upon which he
withdrew, as soon as was consistent with the rules
of politeness, resolving to think no more of a girl
who possessed a needle only in partnership, and
who, it appeared, was not too well informed as to
tlie place where even that share was deposited.

This was, to be sure, a very flagrant instance of
a want of industry ; for, if the thu'd part of tlie
use of a needle satisfied her, when single, it was
reasonable to anticipate that marriage would ban-
ish that useful implement altogether. But such

292 THE YOUJVG MAJS'S GUIDE.

Unfavorable indications. Temper Ivnown by manner of eating.

instances ai*e seldom suffered to come in contact
with the eyes and ears of the lover. There are,
however, as I have already said, certain rules,
which, if attended to with care, will serve as pretty
sure guides.

And, first, if you find the tongue lazy, you may
be nearly certain that the hands and feet are not
very industrious. By laziness of the tongue I do
not mean silence; but, I mean, a slow and soft
utterance ; a sort of sighing out of the words, in-
stead of speaking them ; a sort of letting the sounds
fall out, as if the party were sick at stomach. The
pronunciation of an industrious person is gener-
ally quick, and distinct; the voice, if riot strong,
Jirm at the least. Not masculine, but as feminine
as possible; not a croak nor a bawl, but a quick,
distinct, and sound voice.

One writer insists that the motion of those little
members of the body, the teeth, are very much in
harmony with the operations of the mind ; and
a very observing gentleman assures me that he
can judge pretty accurately of the temper, and in-
deed of the general character of a child, by his
manner of eating. And I have no doubt of the
fact. Nothing is more obvious than that the tem-
per of the child who is so greedy as to swallow
down his food habitually, without masticating it,
must be very different fi'om that of him who habit-
ually eats slowly. Hunger, I know, will quicken
the jaws in either case, but I am supposing them
on an equal footing in this res])ect.

EARLY RISING. 293

♦^arioas marks of industry. Evils of laie rising.

Another mark of industry is, a quick step, and a
somewhat heavy tread, showing that the foot comes
down with a hearty good will. If tlie body lean a
little forward, and the eyes keep steadily in the
same direction, while the feet are going, so much
tlie better, for these discover earnestness to arrive
at the intended point. I do not like, and I never
liked, your sauntering, soft-stepping girls, who
move as if they were perfectly indifferent as to the
result. And, as to the love part of the story, who
ever expects ardent and lasting affection from one
of these samitering girls, will, when too late, find
his mistake. The character is much the same
throughout ; and probably no man ever yet saw a
sauntering girl, who did not, when married, make
an indifferent wife, and a cold-hearted mother;
cared very little for, either by husband or children;
and, of course, having no store of those blessings
which are the natural resources to apply to in sick-
ness and in old age.

8. EARLY RISING.

Early rising is another mark of industry; and
though, in the higher stations of life, it may be of
no importance in a mere pecuniary point of view,
it is, even there, of importance in other respects;
for it is rather difficult to keep love alive towards
a woman who never sees the dew, never beholds
tlie rising sun, and who constantly comes directly
from a reeking bed to the breakfast table, and there
25*

294 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Force of habit. Friendly counsel. Apology.

chews, without appetite, the choicest morsels of
human food. A man might, perhaps, endure this
for a month or two, without being disgusted ; but
not much longer.

As to people in the middle rank of life, where a
living and a provision for children is to be sought
by labor of some sort or other, late rising in the
wife is certain ruin ; and rarely will you find an
early-rising wife, who had been a late-rising girl.
If brought up to late rising, she will like it ; it will
be her habit ; she will, when married, never want
excuses for indulging in the habit. At first she will
be indulged without bounds ; and to make a change
afterwards will be difficult, for it will be deemed
a'turong done to her; she will ascribe it to. dimin-
ished affection. A quarrel must ensue, or, the hus-
band must submit to be ruined, or, at the very
least, to see half the fruit of his labor snored and
lounged away.

And, is this being unreasonably hai-sh or severe
upon woman.'* By no means. It arises from aji
ardent desire to promote the happiness, and to add
to the natural, legitimate, and salutary influence
of the female sex. The tendency of tliis advice is
to promote the preservation of then* health ; to pro-
long the duration of their beauty ; to cause tliera
to be loved to the last day of their lives ; and to
give them, during the whole of those lives, that
weight and consequence, and respect, of which
laziness would render them wholly unwortliy.

FRUGALITY. 295

FC'Ily of extravagance. Its results, especially to the lower classes.
9. FRUGALITY.

Tliis means tlie contrary of extravagance. It
does not mean stinginess ; it does not mean pinch-
ing; but it means an abstaining from all unneces-
sary expenditure, and all unnecessary use of goods
of any and of every sort It is a quality of great
importance, whether the rank in life be high or
low.

Some people are, indeed, so rich, they have such
an over-abundance of money and goods, that how
to get rid of them would, to a spectator, seem to
be their only difficulty. How many individuals
of fine estates, have been ruined and degraded
by the extravagance of their wives! More fre-
quently by their oicn extravagance, perhaps ; but,
in numerous instances, by that of those whose
duty it is to assist in u[)holding their stations by
husbanding their fortunes.

If this be the case amongst the opulent, who
have estates to draw upon, what must be the con-
sequences of a want of frugality in the middle and
lower ranks of life ? Here it must be fatal, and
especially among that description of persons whose
wives have, in many cases, the receiving as well
as the expending of money. In such a case, there
wants nothing but extravagance in the wife to
make ruin as inevitable as the arrival of old age.

To obtain security against this is very difficult;
yet, if the lo\er be not quite hlind^ he may easily

296 THE YOUNG MAN S GUIDE.

Indications of extravagance. Efforts to disguise povertj'.

discover a propensity towards extravagance. The
object of his addresses will, nine times out of ten,
never be the manager of a house; but she must
have her dress^ and other httle matters under her
control. If she be costly in these ; if, in these, she
step above her rank, or even to the top of it ; if she
purchase all she is able to purchase, and prefer the
showy to the useful, the gay and the fragile to the
less sightly and more durable, he may be sure that
the disposition will cling to her through life. If
he perceive in her a taste for costly food, costly
furniture, costly amusements : if he find her love
of gratification to be bounded only by her want of
means ; if he find her full of admiration of the
trappings of the rich, and of desu'e to be able to
imitate them, he may be pretty sure that she will
not spare his purse, when once she gets her hand
into it ; and, therefore, if he can bid adieu to her
charms, the sooner he does it, the better.

Some of the indications of extravagance in a
lady are ear-rings, broaches, bracelets, buckles,
necklaces, diamonds, (real or mock,) and nearly
all the ornaments which women put upon their
persons.

These things may be more proper in palaces,
or in scenes resembling palaces; but, when they
make their appearance amongst people in the mid-
dle rank of life, where, afl;er all, they only serve to
show that poverty in the parties which they wish
to disguise; when the mean, tawdry things make

FRUG.VI.ITY. 297

One form of self destrnciion. Reason and broaches.

their appearance in tliis rank of life, they are the
sure indications of a disposition that will always be
straming at what it can never attain.

To many a girl of this disposition is really self-
destruction. You never can have either property
or peace. Earn her a horse to ride, she will want
a gig: earn the gig, she will want a chariot: get
her that, she will long for a coach and four : and,
from stage to stage, she will torment you to the
end of her or your days; for, still there will be
somebody with a finer equipage than you can give
her ; and, as long as this is the case, you will never
have rest. Reason would tell her, that she could
never be at the top ; that she must stop at some
point short of tiiat; and that, tlierefore, all expenses
in the rivalship are so much thrown away. But,
reason and broaches and bracelets seldom go in
company. The girl who has not the sense to j)er-
ceive that her pei-son is disfigured and not beauti-
fied by parcels of brass and tin, or even gold and
silver, as well to regret, if she dare not oppose the
tyranny of absurd fiishions, is not entitled to a full
measiu'e of the confidence of any individual.

298 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

Love and personal neglect incompatible A question in ethics.

10. PERSONAL NEATNESS.

There never yet was, and there never will be
sincere and ardent love, of long duration, where
personal neatness is wholly neglected. I do not
say that there are not those who would live peace-
ably and even contentedly in these circumstances.
But what I contend for is this: that there never
can exist, for any length of time, ardent ajfedion, in
any man towards a woman who neglects neatness,
either m her person, or in her house affairs.

Men may be careless as to their own person;
they may, from the nature of their business, or
from their want of time to adhere to neatness in
dress, be slovenly in their own dress and habits;
but, they do not relish this in then* wives, who
must still have charms; and charms and neglect
of the person seldom go together. I do not, of
course, ai)prove of it even ia men.

We may, indeed, lay it down as a rule of al-
most universal application, that supposing all other
things to be equal, he who is most guilty of personal
neglect; will be the most ignorant and the most
vicious. Why there should be, universally, a con-
nection between slovenliness, ignorance, and vice,
is a question I have no room in this work to dis-
cuss.

I am well acquainted with one whole family
who neglect their persons from principle. The
gentleman, who is a sort of new light in religious

PERSONAL JTEATNESS. 299

An anecdote. Indications of neatness in person.

concerns, will tell you that the true Christian should
* slight the hovel, as beneath his care.' But there
is a want of intelligence, and even common re-
finement in the family, that certainly does not and
cannot add much to their own happiness, or re-
commend religion — aside from tlie fact that it
greatly annoys their neighbors. And though the
head of the family observes many external duties
with Jewish strictness, neither he nor any of its
members are apt to bridle their tongues, or remem-
ber that on ordinary as well as special occasions they
are bomid t6 ' do all to the glory of God.' As to the
connection of mind with matter — I mean the de-
pendence of mind and soul on body, they are
wholly ignorant.

It is not dress that the husband wants to be per-
petual : it is not finery ; but cleanliness in every
thing. Women generally dress enough, especial-
ly when they go abroad. This occasional cleanli-
ness is not the thing that a husband wants: he
wants it always ; in-doors as well as out ; by night
as well as by day ; on the floor as well as on the
table ; and, however he may complain about the
trouble and the ' expense ' of it, he would complain
more if it were neglected.

The indications of female neatness are, first,
a clean skin. The hands and face will usually be
clean, to be sure, if there be soap and water with-
in reach ; but if on obsei*ving other parts of the
head besides the face, you make discoveries indi-

300 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Neatness in dress. Manner of putting on clothing.

eating a different character, the sooner you cease
your visits the better. I hope, now, tliat no young
woman who may chance to see this book, will be
offended at this, and think me too severe on her
sex. I am only telling that which all men think ;
and, it is a decided advantage to them to be fully
informed of our thoughts on the subject. If any
one, who reads this, shall find, upon self-examina-
tion, that she is defective in this respect, let her
take the hint, and correct the defect.

In the dress^ you can, amongst rich people, find
little whereon to form a judgment as to cleanliness,
because they have not only the dress prepared for
them, but put upon them into the bargain. But, in
the middle ranks of life, the dress is a good criterion
in two respects : first, as to its color ; for if the white
be a sort of yellow, cleanly hands would have been
at woi'k to prevent that. A ivhite-yellow cravat, or
shirt, on a man, speaks at once the character of his
wife ; and, you may be assured, that she will not
take with your ch-ess pains which she has never
taken with her own.

Then, the manner of putting on the dress, is no
bad foundation for judging. If this be careless, and
slovenly, if it do not fit properly, — no matter for its
mean quality ; mean as it may be, it may be neatly
and trimly put on — if it be slovenly put on, I say,
take care of yourself; for, you will soon find to
your cost, that a sloven in one thing, is a sloven in
all things. The plainer people, judge gi-eatly from

A GOOD TEMPER. 301

Going slipshod. Importance of .i permanently good temper.

the state of the covering of the ankles ; and, if that
be not clean and tight, they conclude that the rest is
not as it oaght to be. Look at the shoes ! If they
be trodden on one side, loose on the foot, or run
dowTi at the heel, it is a very bad sign ; and as to
going slipshod^ though at coming down in tJie
morning, and even before daylight, make up your
mind to a rope, rather than live with a slipshod
woman.

How much do women lose by inattention to
these matters ! Men, in general, say nothing about
it to their wives, but they think about it; they
en\y their more lucky neighlx)rs, and in numerous
cases, consequences the most serious arise from
this apparently trifling cause. Beauty is valuable;
it is one of the ties, and a strons; one too ; but it
cannot last to old age ; whereas the charm of clean-
liness never ends but with life itself. It has been
said that the sweetest flowers, when they really
become putrid, are the most offensive. So the
most beautiful woman, if found with an uncleansed
skin, is, in my estimation, the most disagreeable.

11. A GOOD TEMPER.

This is a very difficult thing to ascertain before-
hand. Smiles are cheap; they are easily put on
for the occ-asion ; and, besides, the frowns are, ac-
cording to the lover's whim, interpreted into the
contrary. By ' good temper,' I do not mean an easy
temper, a serenity which nothing disturbs ; for that

26

302 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Evils of sullenness. Not easily cured. Q,uerulousness.

is a mark of laziness. Sullenness, if you be not
too blind to perceive it, is a temper to be avoided
by all means. A sullen man is bad enough ; what,
then, must be a sullen woman, and that woman a
wife; a constant inmate, a companion day and
night! Only think of the delight of setting at the
same table, and occupying the same chamber, for
a week, without exchangmg a word all the while !
Very bad to be scolding for such a length of time ;
but this is far better than ' the sulks.''

But if you have your eyes, and look shai*p, you
will discover symj)toms of this, if it unhappily
exist. She will, at some time or other, show it to-
wards some one or other of the family ; or, per-
haps, towards yourself; and you may be quite sure
that, in this respect, marriage will not mend her.
Sullenness arises from capricious displeasure not
founded in reason. The party takes offence un-
justifiably ; is unable to frame a complaint, and
therefore expresses displeasure by silence. The
remedy for it is, to suffer it to take its full swing ;
but it is better not to have the disease in your
house ; and to be married to it, is little short of mad-
ness.

Querulousness is a great fault. No man, and,
especially, no icoman, likes to hear a continual plain-
tiveness. That she complain, and roundly complain,
of your want of punctuality, of your coolness, of
your neglect, of your liking the company of others:
these are all very well, more especially as they are

A GOOD TEMPER. 303

Cold indifference. Pertinacity. Melancholy.

fi'equently but too just. But an everlasting com-
plaining, without rhyme or reason, is a bad sign.
It shows want of patience, and, indeed, want of
sense.

But the contrary' of this, a cold indifference, is
still woi-se. 'When will you come again? You
can never find time to come here. You like any
company better than mine.' These, when ground-
less, are very teasing, and demonstrate a disposition
too full of anxiousness; but, from a girl who al-
ways receives you with the same civil smile, lets
you, at your own good pleasure, depart with the
same ; and who, when you take her by the hand,
holds her cold fingers as straight as sticks, I should
say, in mercy, preserve me !

Pertinacity is a very bad thing in anybody, and
especially in a young woman ; and it is sure to
increase in force with the age of the party. To
have the last word, is a poor triumph ; but with
some people it is a species of disease of the mind.
In a wife it must be extremely troublesome ; and,
if you find an ounce of it in the maid, it will be-
come a pound in the wife. A fierce disputer is a
most disagreeable companion ; and where 3^oung
women thrust then* say into convei-sations carried
on by older persons, give their opinions in a positive
manner, and court a contest of the tongue, those
must be very bold men who will encounter them
as wives.

Still, of all the faults as to temper, your melan-

304 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Polite accomplishments. When, and to what extent useful.

choly ladies have the worst, unless you have the
same mental disease yourself. Many wives are, at
times, misery-makers; but these cany it on as a
regular trade. They are always unhappy about
something, either past, present, or to come. Both
arms full of children is a pretty efficient remedy in
most cases ; but, if these ingredients be wanting, a
little want, a little real trouble, a little genuine affiic-
tion, often will effect a cure.

12. ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

By accomplishments, I mean those things, which
are usually comprehended in what is termed a use-
ful and polite education. Now it is not unlikely
that the fact of my adverting to this subject so late,
may lead to the opinion that I do not set a proper
estimate on this female qualification.

But it is not so. Probably few set too high an
estimate upon it. Its absolute importance has, I
am confident, been seldom overrated. It is true I
do not like a bookish woman better than a bookish
man ; especially a great devourer of that most con-
temptible species of books with whose burden the
press daily groans: I mean novels. But menttd
cultivation, and even what is called polite learning,
along with the foregoing qualifications, are a most
valuable acquisition, and make every female, as
well as all her associates, doubly happy. It is
only when books, and music, and a taste for the
fine arts are substituted for other and more impor

ACCOMrLISHMENTS. 305

Unequal matching. It3 evils. Dancing.

tant things, that they should be allowed to change
love or respect to disgust.

It sometimes happens, I know, that two persons
are, in this respect, pretty equally yoked. But
what of that ? It only makes each party twofold
more the child of misfortune than before. I have
known a couple of intelligent persons who would
sit with their ' feet in the ashes,' as it were, all day,
to read some new and bewitching book, forgetting
every want of the body ; perhaps even forgetting
that they liad bodies. Were they therefore happy,
or likely lo be so ?

Drawing, music, embroitlcry, (and I might men-
tion half a dozen other tilings of the same class)
where they do not exclude the more useful and
solid matters, may justly be regarded as appropriate
branches of female education ; and in some cir-
cumstances and conditions of life, indispensable.
Music, — vocal and instrumental — and drawing, to
a certain extent, seem to me desirable in all. As
for dancing, I do not feel quite competent to decide.
As tlie world is, however, I am almost disposed to
reject it altogether. At any rate, if a young lady is
accomplished in every other respect, you need not
seriously regret that she has not attended to danc-
ing, especially as it is conducted in most of our
schools.

26'

CHAPTER VII.

CtrCmlnal aSeJjabCot,

Section I. Inconstancy and Seduction.

In nineteen cases out of twenty, of illicit con-
duct, there is perhaps, no seduction at all ; the pas-
sion, the absence of vutue, and the crime, being
all mutual. But there are cases of a very differ-
ent description. Where a young man goes coolly
and deliberately to work, first to gain and rivel
the affections of a young lady, then to take ad-
vantage of those affections to accomplish that
which he knows must be her ruin, and plunge her
into misery for life; — when a young man does
this, I say he must be either a selfish and unfeeling
brute, unworthy of the name of man, or he must
have a heart little inferior, in point of obduracy, to
that of the murderer. Let young women, how-
ever, be aware ; let them be well aware, that few,
indeed, are the cases in which this apology can
possibly avail them. Their character is not solely
theirs, but belongs, in part, to their family and kin-
dred. They may, in the case contemplated, be
objects of compassion with the world ; but what

I.VCOXSTANCY AN'D SEDUCTION. 307

Promises not to be hastily broken. Erroneous impression.

contrition, what repentance, what remorse, what
that even the tenderest benevolence can suggest,
is to heal the wounded heaits of humbled, dis-
graced, but still affectionate parents, brethren, and
sisters ?

In the progress of an intimate acquaintance,
should it be discovered that there are certain traits
of character in one of the parties, which both are
fully convinced will be a source of unhappiness,
through life, there may be no special impropriety in
separating. And yet even then I would say, avoid
haste. Better consider for an hour than repent for
a year, or for life. But let it be remembered, that
before measures of this kind are even hinted at,
there must be a full conviction of their necessity, and
the mutual and hearty concurrence of both parties.
Any steps of this kind, the reasons for which are
not fully understood on both sides, and mutually
satisfactory, as well as easily explicable to those
friends who have a right to inquire on the subject,
are criminal ; — nay more ; they are brutal.

I have alluded to indirect promises of marriage,
because I conceive that the frequent opinion among
young men that nothing is binding but a direct
promise, in so many words, is not only en'oneous,
but highly dishonorable to those who hold it. The
strongest pledges are frequently given without the
interchange of words. Actions speak louder than
words; and there is an attachment sometimes
formed, and a confidence reposed, which would be.

308 THE YOUNG MAN's GUllDE,

A species of monsters described. Their final destination.

in effect, weakened by fbrmalities. The man
who would break a silent engagement, merely be-
cause it is a silent one, especially when he has
taken a course of conduct which he knew would
be likely to result in such engagement, and which
perhaps he even designed, is deserving of the public
contempt. He is even a monster mifit to live in
decent society.

But there are such monstei-s on the earth's sur-
face. There are individuals to be found, who
boast of their inhuman depredations on those
whom it ought to be their highest happiness to
protect and aid, rather than injure. They can wit-
ness, almost without emotion, the heavings of a
bosom rent with pangs which themselves have
inflicted. They can behold their unoffending vic-
tim, as unmoved as one who views a philosophical
experiment; — not expiring, it is true, but despoiled
of what is vastly dearer to her than life — her rep-
utation. They can witness all this, 1 say, without
emotion, and without a single compunction of con-
science. And yet they go on, sometimes with
apparent prosperity and inward peace. At any
rate, they live. No lightnmg blasts them ; no vol-
cano pours over them its floods of lava ; no earth-
quake engulfs them. They are permitted to fill
up the measure of their wickedness. Perhaps
they riot in ease, and become bloated with luxury.
But let this description of beings — men I am al-
most afraid to call them — remember that punish-

lyCONSTANCY AND SEDUCTIO.V. 309

Special judgments. Certain retriLution. In<|uiry answered

inent, though long doferrcd, cannot be always evad-
ed. A day of retribution must and will airive. For
though they may not be visited by what a portion
of the community call special 'judgments,' yet their
punishment is not the less certain. The wretch
who can commit the crime to which I have refer-
red, against a fellow being, and spoit with those
promises, wliich, whether direct or indirect, are
of all things earthly among the most sacred, will
not, unless he repents, rest here. He will go on
from step to step in wickedness. He will harden
himself against every sensibility to the woes of
others, till he becomes a fiend accursed, and
whether on this side of the grave, or the other,
cannot but be completely miserable. A single sin
may not always break in upon habits of virtue so
as to ruin an individual at once ; but the vices go
in gangs, or companies. One admitted and indul-
ged, and the whole gang soon follow. And mis-
ery must follow sin, at a distance more or less near,
as inevitably as a stone falls to the ground, or the
needle points to the pole.

Some young men reason thus with themselves.
If doubts about the future have already risen — if
my affections already begin to waver at times — what
is not to be expected after marriage.' And is it
not better to separate, even without a mutual con-
currence, than to make others, perhaps many others,
unhappy for life ?

In reply, I would observe, in the first place, tliat

310 THE YOUNG MAN'S GUIDE.

Self examination. A rule of action Triiiing witli affection.

though this is the usual reason which is assigned
in such cases, it is not generally the true one. The
fact is, the imagination is suffered to wander where
it ought not; and the affections are not guarded
and restrained, and confined to their proper object.
And if there he a diminution of attachment, it is
not owing to any change in others, but in ourselves.
If our affection has become less ardent, let us
look within, for the cause Shall others suffer for
our own fault?

But, secondly, we may do much to control the
affections, even after they have begun to wander.
We still seek the happiness of the object of our
choice, more, perhaps, than that of any other in-
dividual. Then let us make it our constant study
to promote it. It is a law of our natures, as irre-
vocable as that of the attraction of gravitation, that
doing good to others produces love to them. And
for myself I do not believe the affections of a
young man can diminish towards one whose happi-
ness he is constantly studying to promote by every
means in his power, admitting there is no obvious
change in her character. So that no young person
of principle ought ever to anticipate any such re-
sult.

Nor has a man any right to sport with the affec-
tions of a young woman, in any way whatever.
Vanity is generally the tempter in this case ; a
desire to be regarded as being adtnired by the wo-
men; a very despicable species of vanity, but fro-

INCONSTANCr A?n) SEDUCTION. 311

Cfjae of deception. Worst of inj\irie* An exnmple.

quently greatly mischievous, notwithstanding. You
do not, indeed, actually, in so many words, promise
to marry ; but the general tenor of your language
and deportment has that meaning ; you know that
your meaning is so understood ; and if you have
not such meaning ; if you be fixed by some previous
engagement with, or greater liking for another ; if
you know you are here sowing the seeds of dis-
appointment; and if you persevere, in spite of
the admonitions of conscience, you are guilty of
deliberate deception, injustice and cruelty. You
make to God an ungrateful return for those en-
dowments which have enabled you to achieve this
inglorious and unmanly triumph ; and if, as is fre-
quently the case, you glory in such triumph, you
may have person, riches, talents to excite envy ;
but eveiy just and humane man will abhor your
heart.

The most direct injury against the spiritual na-
ture of a fellow being is, by leading him into vice.
I have heard one young man, who was entrusted
six days in the week to form the immortal minds
and hearts of a score or two of his fellow beings,
deliberately boast of the number of the other sex he
had misled. What can be more base ? And must
not a terrible retribution await such Heaven daring
miscreants ? Whether they accomplish their pur-
poses by solicitation, by imposing on the judgment,
or by powerful compulsion, the wrong is the same,
or at least of the same nature; and nothing but

312 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Extract from Burgh. There are such monsters as he describes.

timely and hearty repentance can save a ^vl•etch of
this description from punishment, either here or
hereafter.

' Some tempers,' says Burgh, (for nothing can be
more in point than liis own words) ' are so impo-
tently ductile, that they can refuse nothing to re-
peated solicitation. Whoever takes the advantage
of such pereons is guilty of the lowest baseness.
Yet nothing is more common than for the debauch-
ed part of our sex to show their heroism by a poor
ti'iumph, over weak, easy, thoughtless woman! —
Nothing is more frequent than to hear them boast
of the ruin of that virtue, of which they ought to
have been the defenders. "Poor fool! she loved
me, and therefore could refuse me nothing." — Base
coward! Dost thou boast of thy conquest over
one, who, by thy own confession, was disabled
for resistance, — disabled by her affection for thy
worthless self ! Does affection deserve such a re-
turn ? Is superior undei*standing, or rather deeper
craft, to be used against thoughtless simplicity, and
its shameful success to be boasted of .'^ Dost thou
pride thyself that thou hast had art enough to de-
coy the harmless lamb to thy hand, that thou might-
est shed its blood ? '

And yet there are such monsters as Burgh
alludes to. There are just such beings scattered
up and down even the fairest portions of the world
we live in, to mar its beauty. We may hope, for
the honor of human nature, they are few. He who

INCONSTAIfCT AND SEDUCTION. 313

We may hope they are few. Appeal to the seducer.

can bring himself to believe their number to be as
great as one in a thousand, may well be disposed
to blush

* And hang his head, to own himself a man.'

I have sometimes wished these beings — men
they are not — would reflect, if it were but for one
short moment They will not deny the excellency
of the golden rule, of doing to others as they wish
otliers to do by themselves. I say they will not
deny it, in theory ; why then should they despise it
in practice ?

Let them think a moment Let them imagine
themselves in the place of the injured party. Could
this point be gained ; could they be induced to re-
flect long enough to see the enormity of their guilt
as it really is, or as the Father in heaven may be
supposed to see it, there might be hope in their
case. Or if tliey find it difficult to view themselves
as the injured, let them suppose, rather, a sister or a
daughter. What seducer is so lost to all natural
affection as not to have his whole soul revolt at
tlie bare thought of having a beloved daughter
experience the treatment which he has inflicted?
Yet the being whom he has ruined had brothers, or
parents ; and those brothers had a sister ; and those
parents a daughter !

27

314 THE YOUNG MAn's (^TJIDE.

Extremes of social life. Cities the worst extreme.

Section II. lAcentiousness.

I wish it were in my power to finish my re-
marks in this place, without feeling that I had made
an important omission. But such is the tendency
of human nature, especially in the case of the
young and ardent, to turn the most valuable bless-
ings confeiTed on man into curses, — and poison, at
their very sources, the purest streams of human
felicity, — that it will be necessary to advert briefly
but plainly to some of the most frequent forms of
youthful irregularity.

Large cities and thinly settled places are the ex-
tremes of social life. Here, of coui-se, vice will be
found in its worst forms. It is more difficult to
say which extreme is worst, among an equal num-
ber of individuals ; but probably the city ^ for in
the country, vice is oftener solitary, and less fi'e-
quently social ; while in the city it is not only social
but also solitary.

A well informed gentleman from New Orleans,
of whose own virtue by the way, I have not the
highest confidence, expressed, lately the strongest
apprehension that the whole race of young men
in our cities, of the present generation, will be
ruined. Others have assured me that in the more
northern cities, the prospect is little, if any, more
favorable.

It is to be regretted that legislators have not

LICENTIOUSNESS. 315

Preventive measures. A wretched being. Not alone.

found out the means of abolishing those haunts in
cities which might be appropriately termed schools
of licentiousness, and thus diminishing an aggre-
gate of temptation already sufficiently large. But
the vices, like their votaries, go m companies.
Until, tlierefore, the various haunts of intempe-
rance in eating and drinking, and of gambling and
stage-playing, can be broken up, it may be con-
sidered vain to hope for the disappearance of those
sties of pollution which are their almost inevitable
results. We might as well think of drying up the
channel of a mighty river, while the fountains
which feed it continue to flow as usual.

There is now in Pennsylvania, — it seems un-
necessary to name the place — a man thirty-five
years old, with all the infirmities of 'three score
and ten.' Yet his premature old age, his bending
and tottering form, wrinkled face, and hoary head,
might be traced to solitary and social licentiousness.

This man is not alone. There are thousands in
every city who are going the same road ; some
with slow and cautious steps, others with a fearful
rapidity. Thousands of youth on whom high ex-
pectations have been placed, are already on the
highway that will probably lead down to disease
and premature death.

Could the multitude of once active, sprightly,
and promising young men, whose souls detested
open vice, and who, without dreaming of danger,
only found their way occasionally to a lottery office.

316 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE

A dismal picture. How the reality would strike us.

and still more rarely to the theatre or the gambling
house, until led on step by step they ventured
do^vn those avenues which lead to the chambers
of death, from which few ever return, and none
uninjured; — could the multitudes of such beings,
which in the United States alone, (though admit-
ted to be the paradise of the world,) have gone
down to infamy through licentiousness, be present-
ed to our view, at once, how would it strike us
with horror ! Their very numbers would astonish
us, but how much more their appearance! I am
supposing them to appear as they went to tlie
graves, in their bloated and disfigured faces, their
emaciated and tottering frames, bending at thirty
years of age under the appearance of three or four
score ; diseased externally and internally ; and pos-
itively disgusting, — not only to the eye, but to
some of the other senses.

One such monster is enough to fill the soul of
those who are but moderately virtuous with hon*or ;
what then would be the eflfect of beholding thou-
sands? In view of such a scene, is there a young
man in the world, who would not form the strong-
est resolution not to enter upon a road which ends
ill wo so remediless ?

But it should be remembered that these thou-
sands were once the fi-iends^ — the children, the
brothers, — yes, sometimes the nearer relatives of
other thousands. They had parents, sisters, broth-
ers; sometimes (would it were not true) wives and

LICENTIOUSNESS. 317

Not a mere fancy sketch, after all. The common apolog)-.

infants. Suppose the young man whom temptation
sohcits, were not only to beliold tlie wretched
thousands already mentioned, but the many more
thousands of dear relatives mourning their loss; —
not by death, for that were tolerable — but by an
everlasting destruction from the presence of all
purity or excellence. Would he not shrink back
from tlie door which he was about to enter, asham-
ed and aghast, and resolve in the strength of his
Creator, never more to indulge a thought of a
crime so disastrous in its consequences?

And let every one remember that the army of
ruined immortals which have been here presented
to the imagination, is by no means a mere fancy
sketch. Tliere is a day to come which will dis-
close a scene of which I have given but a faint
picture. For though the thousands who have thus
destroyed their own bodies and souls, with their
agonized friends and relatives, are scattered among
several millions of their fellow citizens, and, for a
time, not a few of them elude the public gaze, yet
their existence is as much a reality, as if they were
assembled in one place.

' All this,' it may be said, ' I have often heard,
and it may be true. But it does not apply to me.
I am in no danger. You speak of a path, I have
never entered ; or if 1 have ever done so, I have
no idea of returning to it, habitually. I know my
own strength ; how far to go, and when and where

to stop .'

27*

318 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Danger of the first step. Preaching. Anecdote of C. S.

But is there one of all the misemble, in the
future world, who did not once think the same?
Is tliere one among the thousands who have thus
ruined themselves and those who had been as dear
to them as themselves, that did not once feel a proud
consciousness that he ' knew his own strength ? '
Yet now where is he ?

Beware, then. Take not the first step. Nay, in-
dulge not for an instant, the thought of a first step.
Here you are safe. Every where else is danger.
Take one step, and the next is more easy ; the
temptation harder to resist.

Do you call this preaching ? Be it so then. I
feel, and deeply too, that your iriimortal minds,
those gems which were created to sparkle and
shine in the firmament of heaven, are in danger of
having their lusti'e for ever tarnished, and their
brightness everlastingly hid beneath a thicker dark-
ness than that which once covered the land of
Egypt

C. S. was educated by New England parents, in
one of the most flourishing of New England vil-
lages. He was all that anxious friends could hope
or desire ; all that a happy community could love
and esteem. As he rose to manhood he evinced
a full share of 'Yankee' activity and enterprise.
Some of the youth in the neighborhood were
tinders to the southern States, and C. concluded
10 try his fortune among the rest.

He was furnished with two excellent horses and

LICENTIOUSNESS. 319

Story of C. S. continued. His downfal. His change.

a wagon, and every thing necessary to ensure suc-
cess. His theatre of action was tlie low country of
Virginia and Nortli Carohna, and his head-quarters,
N , whither he used to return after an excur-
sion of a moutli or six week, to spend a few days
in tliat dissipated village.

Young C. gradually yielded to the temptations
which the place afforded. F'u^i, he engaged in oc-
casional 'drinking bouts,' next in gaming; lastly,
he frequented a house of ill fame. This was about
the year 1819.

At the end of the year 1820, 1 saw him, but —
how changed ! The eye that once beamed with
health, and vigor, and cheerfulness, was now dim-
med and flattened. The countenance which once
shone with love and good-will to man, was pale
and suspicious, or occasionally suffused with stag-
nant, and sickly, and crimson streams. The teeth,
which were once as white as ivory, were now
blackened by the use of poisonous medicine, given
to counteract a still more poisonous and loathsome
disease. The frame, which had once been as erect
as the stately cedar of Lebanon, was, at the early
age of thirty, beguining to bend as with years. The
voice, which once spoke forth the sentiments of a
soul of comparative purity, now not unfrequently
gave vent to the licentious song, the impure jest,
and the most shocking oaths, and heaven-daring
impiety and blasphemy. The hands which were
once like the spirit within, were now not unfre-

320 THE rouNG maw's guide

Story of C. S. concluded. His prospect. Gloomy reflections

quently joined in the dance, with the vilest of the
vile I

I looked, too, at his external circumstances.
Once he had friends whom he loved to see, and
from whom he was glad to hear. Now it was a
matter of indifference both to him and them whetli-
er they ever saw each other. The hopes of parents,
and especially of ' her that bai'e him ' were laid in
the duiit; and to the neighborhood of which he
had once been the pride and the ornament, he was
fast becoming as if he had never been.

He had travelled first with two horees, next with
one; afterward on foot with a choice assortment
of jewelry and other pedlar's wares ; now his as-
sortment was reduced to a mere handful. He
could purchase to the value of a few dollars, take
a short excursion, earn a small sum, and return —
not to a respectable house, as once, — but to the
lowest of resorts, to expend it.

Here, in 1821, I last saw him ; a fair candidate
for the worst contagious diseases which occasion-
ally infest that region, and a pretty sure victim to
the first severe attack. Or if he should even es-
cape these, with the certainty before him of a very
short existence, at best.

This is substantially the history of many a young
man whose soul was once as spotless as that of C.
S. Would that young men knew their strength,
and theii- dignity ; and would put forth but half the
energy that God has given them. Then tliey

LIGEXTIOUS.VESS. 321

Waroing lo the young. Substitutes for dissipation proposed.

would never approach the confines of those regions
of dissipation, for when they have once entered
tliem, the soul and the body are often ruined forever.

There are in every city hundreds of young men
— I regret to say it, — who should heed this warn-
ing voice. .Voir they are happily situated, beloved,
respected. They are engaged in useful and re-
s[»ectable avocations, and looking forAvard to bright-
er and better scenes. Let them beware lest there
should be causes in operation, calculated to sap
the foundations of the castle which fancy's eye has
builded, (and which might even be realized); and
lest their morning sun, which is now going forth in
splendor, be not shrouded m darkness ere it has yet
attained its meridian height.

Every city affords places and means of amuse-
ment, at once rational, satisfying, and improving.
Such are collections of curiosities, natural and arti-
ficial, lectures on science, debating clubs, lyceums,
&C. Then the libraries which aboimd, afford a
source of never ending amusement and instruction.
Let these suffice. At least, ' touch not, handle not'
tliat which an accumulated and often sorrowfiil ex-
perience has shown to be accursed.

Neither resort to solitary vice. If this practice
should not injure your system immediately, it will
in the end. I am sorry to be obhged to advert to
this subject; but I know there is occasion. Youth,
esj)ecially those who lead a confined life, seek oc-
casional excitement Such sometimes resort to

322 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

A destructive habit. How it debases. Common mistake.

this lowest, — I may say most destructive of prac-
tices. Such is the constitution of things, as the
Author of Nature has established it, that if every
other vicious act were to escape its merited punish-
ment in this world, the one in question could not.
Whatever its votaries may think, it never fails, m
a single instance, to injure them, personally ; and
consequently their posterity, should any succeed
them.

It is not indeed true that the foregoing vices do
of themselves, produce all this mischief directly;
but as Dr. Paley has well said, criminal intercourse
* corrupts and depraves the mind more than any
single vice whatsoever.' It gi-adually benumbs the
conscience, and leads on, step b}' step, to those
blacker vices at which the youth would once have
shuddered.

But debasing as this vice is, it is scarcely more
so than solitary gratification. The former is not
always at hand ; is attended, it may be, with ex-
pense ; and with more or less danger of exposure.
But the latter is practicable whenever temptation
or rather imagination solicits, and appears to the
morbid eye of sense, to be attended with no haz-
ard. Alas ! what a sad mistake is made here ! It
is a fact well established by medical men, that
every error on this point is injurious ; and that the
constitution is often more surely or more effect-
ually impaired by causes which do not appear
to injure it in the least, than by occasional and

LICEXTIOCSNESS. 323

A set of wretches. Particular directions.

heavier shocks, which rouse it to a reaction. The
one case may be compared to daily tippling, the
other to those periodical drunken froHcs, which,
having an interval of weeks or months between
them, give the system time to recover, in part,
(but in part only) from the violence it had sus-
tained.

I wish to put the younger portion of my readers
upon their guard against a set of wretches who
take pains to initiate youth, while yet almost chil-
dren, into the practice of the vice to which I have
here adverted. Domestics — where the young are
too familiar with them — have been known to be
thus ungrateful to their employers. There are,
however, people of several classes, who do not
hesitate to mislead, in this manner.

But the misfortune is, that this book will not be
apt to fall into the hands of those to whom these
remarks apply, till the ruinous habit is already
fonned. And then it is that counsel sometimes
comes too late. Should these pages meet the eye
of any who have been misled, let them remember
that they have begun a career which multitudes
repent bitterly ; and from which few are apt to
return. But there have been instances of reform ;
therefore none ought to despair. ' What man has
done, man may do.'

They should first set befoie their minds the na-
ture of the practice, and the evils to which it ex-
poses. But here comes the difficulty. What are its

324 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

The point argued. The error exposed. Appeal.

legitimate evils .^ They know indeed that the
written laws of God condemn it ; but the punish-
ment which those laws threaten, appeal's to be re-
mote and uncei-tain. Or if not, they are apt to re-
gard it as the punishment of excess, merely. Thei/f
prudent souls, would not, for the world, plunge
into excess. Besides, Hhey injure none but them-
selves.^ they tell us.

Would it were true that they injured none but
themselves ! Would there were no generations yet
unborn to suffer by inheriting feeble constitutions,
or actual disease, from their progenitors !

Suppose, however, they really injured nobody
but themselves. Have they a right to do even this 7
They will not maintain, for one moment, that they
have a right to take away their own life. By what
right, then, do they allow themselves to shorten it,
or dijninish its happmess while it lasts ?

Here the question recurs again : Does solitary
gratification actually shorten life, or diminish its
happiness ?

The very fact that the laws of God forbid it, is
an affirmative answer to this question. For noth-
ing is more obvious than that all other vices which
that law condemns, stand in the way of our present
happiness, as well as the happiness of futurity. Is
this alone an exception to the general rule "?

But I need not make my appeal to this kind of
authority. You rely on human testimony. You
believe a thousand things which yourselves never

LICENTIOUSNESS. 325

Medical testimooy. Plea of ihe sensualist. Tlie reply.

saw or heard. Why do you believe thetn, except
upon tesliniony — I mean g^iven either verbally, or,
what is the same thing, in books?

Now if the accumulated testimony of medical
writers from the days of Galon, and Celsus, and
Hippocrates, to the present hour, could have any
weight with you, it would settle the point at once.
I have collected, l)ri«'lly, the results of medical tes-
timony on this subject, in the next chapter; but if
you will take my statementa for the present, I will
aflBure you that / have hrfore me documents enough
to fill half a volunu' like this, frofu those who have
studied deeply these subjects, whose united lan-
guage is, that the practice in question, indulged in
any degree, is destructive to body and mind ; and
that although, in vigorous young men, no striking
evil may for some time appear, yet the punishment
can no more be evaded, PXcof)t by early death, than
the motion of the earth can be hindered. And all
tJiis, too, without taking into consideration the ter-
rors of a judgment to come.

But why, then, some may ask, are animal pro-
pensities given us, if they are not to be indulged?
The appropriate reply is, they are to be indulged ;
but it is only in accordance with the laws of God ;
never otherwise. And the wisdom of these laws,
did they not rest on other and better proof, is
amply confirmed by that great body of medical ex-
perience already inentioncd, God has delegated
to man, a sort of subcreative power to perpetuate

OS

326 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

The case plainly stated. Objecfion. Further explanation.

his own race. Such a wonderful work requu-ed
a wonderful apparatus. And such is furnished.
The texture of the organs for this purpose is of the
most tender and dehcate kind, scarcely equalled by
that of the eye, and quite as readily injured ; and
tliis fact ought to be known, and considered. But
instead of leaving to human choice or caprice the
execution of the power thus delegated, the great
Creator has made it a matter of duty ; and has con-
nected with the lawful discharge of that duty, as
with all others, enjoyment. But when this enjoy-
ment is sought in any way, not in accordance with
tlie laws prescribed by reason and revelation, we
diminish (whatever giddy youth may suppose,) the
sum total of our own happiness. Now this is not
the cold speculation of age, or monkish austerity.
It is sober matter of fact.

It is said that 3'^oung men are sometimes in cir-
cumstances which forbid their conforming to these
laws, were they disposed to do so.

Not so often however, as is commonly supposed.
Marriage is not such a mountain of difficulty as
many imagine. This I have already attempted to
show. One circumstance to be considered, in con-
nection with this subject, is, that in any society, the
more there is of criminal indulgence, whether
secret or social, the more strongly are excuses for
neglecting matrimony urged. Every step which
a young man takes in forbidden paths, affords him
a plea in behalf of the next. The farther he

LICENTIODSXtSS. 327

Late marriages. A question of health. Celibacy considered.

goes, tlie less the probability of his retuniiug to
the ways of purity, or entering those of domestic
felicity.

People in such places as London and Paris, mar-
ry Jiiuch later in life, upon the average, than in
country places. And is not the cause obvious?
And is not the same cause beginning to produce
similar effects in our own American cities ?

But suppose celibacy in some cases, to be un-
avoidable, can a life of continence, in the fullest
sense of the term, l>e favorable to health'^ This
question is answered by those to whose writings 1
have already referred, in the affimiative. But it is
also answered by facts, thotigh from the nature of
the case these facts are not always easy of access.
We have good reason to believe that Sir Isaac
Newton and Dr. Fothorgill, never for once in their
lives deviated from the strict laws of rectitude on
this point. And we have no evidence that they
were sufferers for their rigid course of virtue. The
former certainly enjoyed a measure of health and
reached an age, to which few, in any circumstan-
ces, attain ; and the latter led an active and useful
life to nearly three-score and ten. There are living
e.\amples of the same purity of character, but they
cannot, of course, be mentioned in this work.

Several erroneous views in regard to the animal
economy which have led to the veiy general opin-
ion that a life of celibacy — strictly so, I mean —
cannot be a life of health, might here be exposed.

328 THE YOUNG MAn's GUIDE.

A wish. Study of the human constitution. Word to parents.

did either the limits or the nature of the work per-
mit. It is not that a state of cehbacy — entirely so,
I always mean — is positively injurious ; but that
a state of matriniony is more useful ; and, as a gene-
ral rule, attended with moi'e happiness.

] t is most ardently to be hoped, that the day is
not far distant when every young man will study
the laws and functions of the human frame for him-
self. This would do more towards promoting m-
dividual purity and public happiness, than all the
reasoning in the world can accomplish without it.
Men, old or young, must see for themselves how
* fearfully' as well as 'wonderfully' they are made,
before they can have a thorough and abiding con-
viction of the nature of disobedience, or of the
penalties that attend, as well as follow it. And in
proportion, as the subject is studied and under-
stood, may we not hope celibacy will become less
frequent, and mamage — honorable, and, if you
please, early marriage — be more highly estimated ?

This work is not addressed to parents; but
should it be read by any who have sons, at an age,
and in circumstances, which expose them to tempt-
ation, and m a way which will be very apt to se-
cure their fall, let them beware.*

♦ Parents who inform their children on this subject,
generally begin too late. Familiar conversational explana-
tion, begun as soon as there is reason to apju'ehend danger,
and judiciously pursued, is perhaps the most successAsl
method of preventing evil.

LICENTIOUSNESS. 329

We are arbiters of our own fate. Errors in education.

Still, the matter must be finally decided by the
young tliemselves. They, in short, must determine
the question whether they will rise in the scale of
bemg, through every period of their existence, or
sink lower and lower in the depths of degradation
and wo. They must be, after all, the arbiters of
their own fate. No influences, human or divine,
will exer force them to happiness.

The remainder of this section will be devoted
to remarks on the causes which operate to form
licentious feelings and habits in the young. My
limits, however, will permit me to do little more
than mention them. And if some of them might
be addressed with more force to parents than to
young men, let it be remembered that the young
may he parents, and if they cannot recall the past,
and correct the errors in their own education, they
can, at least, hope to prevent the same errors in the
education of others.

1. FALSE DELICACr.

Too much of real delicacy can never be incul-
cated ; but in our early management, we seem to
implant the false, instead of the true. The lan-
guage we use, in answering the curious questions
of children, often leads to erroneous associations
of ideas ; and it is much better to be silent. By
the falsehoods which we think it necessary to tell,
we often excite still greater curiosity, instead of
satisfying that which already exists. I will not
38*

330 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Another error in education. Diseased curiosity. Danger.

undertake to decide what ought to be done ; but
silence, I am certain, would be far better than false-
hood.

There is another error. Except in the case of
very large public schools, 1 am opposed to the prac-
tice of separating the sexes during study hours,
though well aware that many hold a very different
opinion. But it seems to me they cannot have
watched closely the early operations of their own
minds, and observed how curiosity was awakened,
and wanton imaginations fostered by distance, and
apparent and needless reserve.

2. LICENTIOUS BOOKS, PICTURES, &C.

This unnatural reserve, and the still more un-
natural falsehoods already mentioned, prepate the
youthful mind for the reception of any thmg which
has the semblance of information on the points to
which curiosit}'^ is directed. And now comes the
danger. The world abounds in impure publica-
tions, which almost all children, (boys especially,)
at sometime or other, contrive to get hold of, in
spite of parental vigilance. If these books con-
tained truth, and nothing but truth, their clandes-
tine circulation would do less mischief. But they
generally impart very little information which is
really valuable ; on the contrary they contain much
falsehood ; especially when they profess to instruct
on certain important subjects. Let me repeat it
then, they cannot be relied on ; and in the language

LEWD BOOKS, PICTURES, &C. 331

Licentiuus paintings and engravings. The stage. The shop

of another book, on another subject ; ' He that
trusteth ' to them, ' is a fool.'

The same remai'ks might be extended, and with
even more justice, to licentious paintings and en-
gravings, which circulate in various ways. And
I am soiry to include in this charge not a few
which are publicly exhibited for sale, in the win-
dows of our shops. You may sometimes find
obscene pictures under cover of a watch-case or
snuff box. In short, there would often seem to be
a general combination of human and infernal ef-
forts to render the juvenile thoughts and affections
impure ; and not a few parents themselves enter
into the horrible league.

On this subject Dr. Dwight remarks; 'The num-
bers of the poet, the delightful melody of song, the
fascination of the chisel, and the spell of the pencil,
have been all volunteered in the service of Satan
for the moral destruction of unhappy man. To
finish this work of malignity the stage has lent all
its splendid apparatus of mischief; the shop has
been converted into a show-box of temptations;
and its owner into a pander of iniquity.' And in
another place ; ' Genius, in every age, and in every
country, has, to a great extent, prostituted its ele-
vated powers for the deplorable purpose of seduc-
ing thoughtless minds to this sinJ' Are these re-
marks too sweeping ? In my own opinion, not at
alL Let him, who doubts, take a careful survey of
the whole of this dangerous ground.

332 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Licentious songs. Anecdote of a teacher.

3. OBSCENE AND IMPROPER SONGS.

The prostitution of the melody of song, men-
tioned by Dr. Dwight, reminds me of another seri-
ous evil. Many persons, and even not a few intelli-
gent parents, seem to think that a loose or immoral
song cannot much injure their children, especially
if they express their disapprobation of it afterwards.
As if the language of the tongue could give the lie
to the language of the heart, already written, and
often deeply, in the eye and countenance. For it is
notorious that a considerable proportion of parents
tolerate songs containing very improper sentiments,
and hear them with obvious interest, how much
soever they may wish their children to have a bet-
ter and purer taste. The common ' love songs' are
little better than those already mentioned.

It is painful to think what errors on this subject
are sometimes tolerated even by decent society. 1
knew a schoolmaster who did not hesitate to join
occasional parties, (embracing, among others, pro-
fessedly Christian parents,) for the purpose of
spending his long winter evenings, in hearing songs
from a very immoral individual, not a few of which
were adapted to the most corrupt taste, and unfit to
be heard in good society. Yet the community in
which he taught was deemed a rehgious commu-
nity ; and the teacher hhnself prayed in his school,
morning and evening! Others I have known to
conduct even worse, though perhaps not quite so
of>enly.

DOUBLE ENTENDRES. 333

Speeches with double meanings. St. Paul's directions.

I mention these things, not to reproach teachers,
— for I think then* moral character, in this country,
generally, far better than their intellectual, — but as
a specimen of perversion in the public sentiment;
and also as a hint to all who have the cai-e of the
young. Pupils at school, cannot fail to make cor-
rect inferences fi'om such facts as the foregoing.

4. DOUBLE ENTENDRES. *

By this is meant seemingly decent speeches, with
double meanings. I mention these because they
prevail, in some parts of tlie country, to a most
alarming degree ; and because parents seem to re-
gard them as perfectly harmless. Shall I say — to
show the extent of the evil — that they are some-
times heard from both parents ? Now no serious
observer of humEm life and conduct can doubt that
by every species of impure language, whether in
tlie form of hints, innuendoes, double entendres, or
plainer speech, impure thoughts are awakened, a
licentious imagination inflamed, and licentious pur-
poses formed, which would otherwise never have
existed. Of all such things an inspired writer has
long ago said — and the language is still applica-
ble ; — ' Let them not be so much as named among
you.'

I have been in families where these loose insin-
uations, and coarse innuendoes were so common,

* Pronounced entaunders.

334 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

State of things in some families. Precocity. Its danger.

that the presence of respectable company scarcely
operated as a restraint upon the unbridled tongues,
even of the parents ! Many of these things had
been repeated so often, and under such circumstan-
ces that the children, at a very early age, perfectly
understood their meaning and import. Yet had
these very same children asked for direct infor-
mation, at this time, on the subjects which had
been rendered familiar to them thus incidentally,
the parents would have startled; and would un-
doubtedly have repeated to them part of a string
of falsehoods, with which they had been in the
habit of attempting to ' cover up ' these matters ;
though with the effect, in the end, of rendering
the children only so much the more curious and
inquisitive.

But this is not all. The filling of the juvenile
mind, long before nature brings the body to ma-
turity, with impure imaginations, not only pre-
occupies the ground which is greatly needed for
something else, and fills it with shoots of a noxious
growth, but actually induces, if I may so say, a
precocious maturity. What I mean, is, that there
arises a morbid or diseased state of action of the
vessels of the sexual system, which paves the way
for premature physical developement, and greatly
increases the danger of youthful irregularity.

EVENI>'G PARTIES. 335

Evils of night assemblies. A full length portrait of one.

5. EVENING PARTIES.

One prolific source of licentious feeling and
Eiction may be found, I think, in evening parties,
especially when protracted to a late hour. It has
always appeared to me that tlie injury to health
which either directly or indirectly grows out of
evening parties, was a sufficient objection to their
recurrence, especially when tlie assembly is crowd-
ed, the room greatly heated, or when nujsic and
dancing are the accompaniments. Not a few
young ladies, who after perspiring freely at the lat-
ter exercise, go out into the damp night air, in a
tliin dress, contract consum[)tion ; and both sexes
are very much exposed, in this way, to colds, rheu-
matisms, and fevers.

But the great danger, after all, is to reputation
and morals. Think of a group of one hundred
young ladies and gentlemen assembling at evening,
and under cover of the darkness, joining in con-
clave, and heating themselves with exercise and
refreshments of an exciting nature, sucli as coffee,
tea, wine, &c, and in some parts of our country
with diluted distilled spirit; and 'keeping up the
steam,' as it is sometimes called, till twelve or one
o'clock, and frequently during the greater part of
the night. For what kind and degree of vice, do
not such scenes prepare those who are concerned
in them ?

Nothing which is here said is intended to be lev-

336 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

A commoii error. The moral evil outweighs all others.

elled against dancing, in itself considered ; but only
against such a use, or rather abuse of it as is made
to inflame and feed impure imaginations and bad
passions. On the subject of dancing as an amuse-
ment, I have already spoken in another part of the
work.

I have often wondered why the strange opinion
has come to prevail, especially among the industri-
ous yeomanry of the interior of our country, that it
is economical to turn night into day, in this man-
ner. Because they cannot very well spare their
sons or apprentices in the daytime, as they suppose,
they suffer them to go abroad in the evening, and
perhaps to be out all night, when it may justly be
questioned whether the loss of energy which they
sustain does not result in a loss of effort during
one or two subsequent days, at least equal to the
waste of a whole aflemoon. I am fully convinced,
on my own part, that he who should give up to his
son or hired laborer an aflemoon, would actually
lose a less amount of labor, taking the week togeth-
er, than he who should only give up for this pur-
pose the hours which nature intended should be
spejit in sleep.

But — I repeat it — the moral evil outweighs all
other considerations. It needs not an experience
of thirty years, nor even of twenty, to convince
even a careless observer that no small number of
our youth of both sexes, have, through the influ-
ence of late evening parties, gone down to the

DISEASES OF LICEXTIOUSKESS. 337

A hint to some profes-sors of religion. A dark catalogue.

chambers of drunkenness and debauchen" ; and,
witli the young man mentioned by Solomon,
descended through tlieni to those of death and hell.
It may be worth while for those sober minded
and, otherwise, judicious Christians, who are in the
habit of attending fashionable parties at late hours,
and taking their ' refreshments,' to consider whetlier
tliey may not be a meajis of keeping up, by their
example, those more vulgar assemblies, with all
tlieir gi'ossness, whirh I have been describing. Is
it not obvious that what the trmc, and the fruit, and
the oysters, are to the more refined and Christian
circles, wine and fermented liquors may be to
tlie more blunt sensibilities of body and muid, in
youthful circles of another description ? But if so,
where rests the guilt? Or shall we bless the foun-
tains, while we curse the stream they form ?

Section III. Diseases of Lictntiousntss.

The importance of this and the foregoing section
will be differently estimated by different individuals.
They were not inserted, however, without consid-
eration, nor without the approbation of persons
who enjoy a large measure of public confidence.
The young ought at least to know, briefly, to what
a formidable host of maladies secret vice is ex-
fjosed.

1. Insanity. The records of hospitals show that
insanity, from solitary indulgence, is commoEU
T'lssot, Esquirol, Eberle, and others, give ample

29

338 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Catalogue continued. St. Vitus's dance. Epilepsy

testimony on this point. The latter, from a care-
ful examination of the facts, assures us that in
Paris the proportion of insane persons whose dis-
eases may be traced to the source in question, is
one in from fifty-one to fifty-eighty in the lower
classes. In the higher classes it is one in twenty-
three. In the insane Hospital of Massachusetts —
I have it from authority which I cannot question, —
the proportion is at least one in three or four. At
present there are about twenty cases of the kind
alluded to.

2. Chorea Sandi Viti; or St. Vitus's dance.
This strange disease, in which the nniscles of the
body are not always at the command of the patient,
and in which the head, the arms, the legs, and in-
deed every part which is made for muscular mo-
tion often jerks about in a very singular manner, is
sometimes produced in the same way. Insanity
and this disease are occasionally combined. I have
kno^vn one young man in this teiTible condition,
and have read authentic accounts of others.

3. Epilepsy. Epileptic or falling sickness fits, as
they are sometimes denominated, are another very
common scourge of secret vice. How much they
are to be dreaded almost every one can judge ; for
there are few who have not seen those who are
afflicted with them. They usually weaken the
mind, and sometimes entirely destroy it. I knew
one epileptic mdividual who used to dread them
more than death ; and would gladly have prefer-
red the latter.

DISEASES or LICENTIOUSNESS. 339

Idiocy. Palsy. Apojilexy. Blindness. Hypochondria.

4. Idiotism. Epilepsy, as I have already inti-
mated, often runs on to idiotism ; but sometimes
the miserable young man becomes an idiot, with-
out the intervention of any other obvious disease.

5. Paralysis or Palsy, is no uncommon punish-
ment of tliis transgression. There ai*e, however,
several forms of this cUsease. Sometimes, a slight
numbness of a single toe or finger is the first
symptom of its approach ; but at others a whole
hand, arm, or leg is affected. In the present case,
the first attacks are not very viol<'nt, as if to give
the offender oj)portunity to return to the path of
rectitude. Few, however, take the hint and re-
turn, till the chains of their slavery are riveted,
and their health destioycd by this or some other
form of disease. I have seen dissipated young
men who complained of the numbness of a finger
or two and the corresponding portion of the hand
and \vrist, who probably did not themselves sus-
pect the cause ; but I never knew the disorder
permanently removed, e.xcept by a removal of the
cause which produced it

G. ^^poplexy. This has occasionally happened;
though more rarely.

7. Blindness, in some of its forms, especially
of that form usually called gutta sereim, should
also be added to our dark catalogue. Indeed a
weakness of sight is among the first symptoms
that supervene on these occasions.

8. Hypochondria. This is as much a disease by

340 THE You>'G man's guide.

Consumption. Peculiar form of this disease.

itself as the small pox, though many regard it
otherwise. The mind is diseased, and the indi-
vidual has many imaginary sufferings, it is true ;
but the imagination would not be thus unnaturally
awake, if there were no accomj)anying disturb-
ance in the bodily functions. Hypochondria, in its
more aggravated forms, is a very conmion result
of secret vice.

9. Phthims, or consumption, is still more fre-
quently produced by the cause we are considering,
than any other disease I have mentioned. And
we know well the hlstoiy of this disease; that,
though slow in its progress, the event is certain.
In this climate, it is one of the most destructive
scourges of our race. If the ordinary diseases slay
their thousands, consumption slays its tens of thou-
sands. Its approach is gradual, and often unsus-
pected; and the decline to the grave sometimes
unattended by any considerable suffering. Is it
not madness to expose ourselves to its attacks for
the shortlived gratifications of a moment?

There is indeed a peculiar form of this disease
which, in the case hi question, is more commonly
produced than any other. It is called, in the lan-
guage of physicians, tabes doisalis, or dorsal con-
sumption; because it is supjiosod to arise from the
dorsal portion of the spinal maiTow. This disease
sometimes, it is true, attacks young married peo-
ple, especially where they go beyond the bounds
w hich the Author of nature intended ; and it is

IHiEASES OF LICENTIOUSNESS. 34J

ftfl symptoms. The sufferer's only hope of relier.

occasionally produced by other causes entirely dif-
ferent; causes, too, which it Nvoulii be difficult,
if not inn>ossiblc to prevent. Generally, however,
it is protluced by solitary vice.

The most striking symptom of this disease is
described as being a 'sensation of ants, crawling
from the head down along the spine;' but this
sensation is not always felt, for sometimes in its
stead tlitre is, nuher, a very great weakn»\ss of the
small part of the back, attended with pain. This
is accom|mnied witli emaciation, and occasionally,
though not always, with an irregular appetite. In-
deed, persons aflected with this disease generally
have a good appetite. There is usually little fever,
or at most only a slight heat and tliirst towards
evening, with occassional flushings of the face ; and
still more rarely, profuse perspirations in the latter
jMTt of the night. Btit the latter symptom belongs
more projK.'rly to common consumption. The
sight, as 1 have already mentioned, grows dim;
they have pains in the head and sometimes ring-
ing in the eai-s, and a loss of iriemor}'. Finally,
the legs become weak, the kidneys and stomach
suflTer, and many other difficulties arise which I
cannot mention in this work, followed often by
an acute fever; anrl unless the abominable prac-
tice which j)roduccd all the mischief is abandoned,
death f )Ilows. Hut when many of the symptoms
which 1 have mentioned, are really fastened upon
an individual, he has sustained an injury which
ii9*

342 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Examples of suffering. Author's correspondence,

can never be wholly repaired. All he can hope is
to prolong his days, and lengthen out his life —
often a distressing one. A few well authenticated
examples of pereons who debased themselves by
secret vice, will, I hope, satisfy those who doubt
the evils of this practice.

One young man thus expressed his sufferings to
his physician. ' My very great debility renders the
performance of eveiy motion difficult. That of
my legs is often so great, that I can scarcely stand
erect ; and I fear to leave my chamber. Digestion
is so imperfect that the food pjisses unchanged,
three or four hours after it has been taken into the
stomach. I am oppressed with phl6gm, the pre-
sence of which causes pain ; and the expectora-
tion, exhaustion. This is a brief history of my
miseries. Each day brings with it an increase of
all my woes. Nor do I believe that any human
creature ever suffered more. Without a special
interposition of Divine Providence, I cannot sup-
port so painful an existence.'

Another thus writes ; ' Were I not restrained by
sentiments of religion,* I should ere this have put

* What inadequate ideas are sometimes entertained by
young professors of religion, and even by those more ad-
vanced, in regard to the purity of character which is indis-
pensable to the enjoyment of a world of bliss — a world
whose very source, sum, end and essence, are Infinite Purity
itself!

Since the first edition of this work was published, I

DISEASES OF LICENTIOUSNESS. 343

More examples or disease. Looking to the grave for relief

ail end to my existence ; whicli is the more insup-
portable as it is caused l>v myself.'

' I cannot walk two hunclred paces,' says aiiotli-
er ' witljont resting myself; my feebleness is ex-
treme ; I liave constant pains in every part of the
Uuiy, but i)articularly in the shoulders and chest.
My apjjetite is good, but this is a misfortune, since
wiiat 1 eat causes pains in my stomach, and is
vomited up. If I read a page or two, my eyes are
filled with tears and become painful : — I often
sigh involuntarily.'

A fourth says; 'I rest Ixidly at night, and am
much troubled with dreams. The lower i)art of
my back is weak, my eyes are often painful, and
my eyelids swelled and n-d. I Iiav«' an ahnost
constant cold ; and an oppression at the stomach.
In short, I had rather be laid in the silent tomb,
and encounter that dreadful uncertainty, hereajlcr,

have received several letters of thanks fur having ventured
upon this long neglected, but important subject. Teachers,
eapeciallv, have ackiiowlcdgeil their obligations, both in
person and by corrfspondence. One teacher, in particular,
a man of considerable experience, writes aa follows: —

'The last chapter of the book, is by no mcanp, in n;y
view, tlie least important. I regret to say that many
religious young men, through ignorance, are attached to
the last mentione<J vice. I could wish that what you have
written could be carefully read by every young man, at
leaBt, in our land. Ala.<;, dear sir, how little do mortals
know, when they do not understand their physical struc-
ture! •

344 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

For whom this book is intended. References.

than remain in my present unhappy and degrad-
ed situation.'

The reader should reinenibc^r that the persons
whose miseries are here described, were generally
suflferei's from hypochondria. They had not advanc-
ed to the still more horrid stages of palsy, apoplexy,
epilepsy, idiotism, St. Vitus's dance, blindness, or
insanity. But tUey had gone so far, that another
step in the same path, might have rendered a return
impossible.

The reader will si)are me the pain of present-
ing, in detail, any more of these horrid cases. I
write for young men, the strength — the bone, mus-
cle, sinew, and nerve — of our beloved country.
I write for those who, — though some of them
may have erred — are glad to be advised, and if
they deem the advice good, are anxious to follow
it I write, too, in vain, if it be not for young men
who will resolve on reformation, when they believe
that their present and future happiness is at stake.
And, lastly, I have not read correctly the pages in
the book of human nature if I do not write for
those who can, with God's help, keep every good
resolution.

There are a few publications to which those who
are awake to the importance of this subject, might
safely be directed. One or two will be mentioned
presently. It is true that their authors have, in some
instances, given us the details of such cases of dis-
ease as occur but rarely. Still, what has happened,

DISSASES OF LICENTIOUSNESS. 345

Where tbe path of error may end. One n'ore warning,

in this respect, may happen again. And as no
moderate drinker of fermented or spirituous liquors
can ever iviiow, wiili certainly, llint if he continues
bis habit, he may not finally arrive at confirmed
drunkenne.ss, and tiie worst diseases which attend
it, 80 no person who departs but once from recti-
tude in ihf matter Ijefore us, lias any assurance
that lie shall not sooiht or later sutler all the evils
which they so faithfully descrilx*.

When a youne man, who is pursuinff an un-
hap[iy course of solitary vice, threatened as we
have seen by the severest |>enalti»'S earth or heaven
can imjKJse, — Ik?;? ins to |>erceive a loss or irregu-
larity of his ap|M'tite ; acuto pains in his stomach,
especially durinjir di;,'estion, and constant vomitings;
— when to this is added a weakness of the hmgs,
otten aitrndf*d by a dry conph, hoars*- Wf-ak voice,
and hurried or ditlirult bn-athinir after using con-
sidrnible ex«*rtioii, with a general relaxation of
the nervous system ; — when these appearances, or
8ym})toins, as jthysicians rail them, take place —
let him beware! for punishment of a severer kind
cannot l>e distant.

I hope I shall have no reader to whom these
remarks apply ; but slmuM it be otherwise, happy
will it l>e for him if he takes the alarm, an<l walks
not anotlier step in the downward road to certain
and terrible retribution. Happiest, however, is he
who has never ened from the first ; and who reads
tliese pages as he reads of those awful scenes in

346 THE YOUNG man's GUIDE.

Several works, on tliis suhject. An extract.

nature, — the devastations of the lightuing, the de-
luge, the tornado, tlie earthquake, and the volcano;
as things to be lanientetl, and their iiorrors if })0S-
sihle mitigated or averted, l)ut with which he has
Uttle j)ersonal concern.

Sympathizing, however, with his fellow beings
— for though />/7/e;j, they siill belong to the same
family — sJiould any reader who sees this work,
wish to examine the subject still more intimately, 1
reconnnend to him a Lecture to Young Men, lately
pid)li.shed in Providence. I would also refer him,
to Rees' Cyclopedia, art. Phtjsical Kducaliun.

The article last refen-ed to is so excellent, that I
have decided on introducing, in this place, the
closing paragraph. The writ(;r \\i\.i\ been treating
the subject, much in the manner I have done, only
at greater length, and had enumerated the diseases
to which it leads, at the same time insistijig on the
importance of infjrming the young, in a proper
manner, of their dajiger, wherever the urgency of
the case required it. After quoting numerous pas-
sages of Scripture, which, in speaking of impurity,
evidently include this practice, and denouncing it in
severe terms, he closes with the following striking
remarks.

'There can be no doubt that God has forbidden
it by the usual course of providence. Its moral
effects, in destroying the purity of the mind, in
swallowing up its best affections, and perverting
its sensibilities into this dej>raved channel, are

DISEASES OF LICE>'TIOUS:tESS. 347

Extract continued. Contains judicious advice.

among its most injurious consequences; and are
what render it so peculiarly difficult id eradicate
the evil. In proix)rti()n as tlie habit strengthens
the difficulty ot* breaking it, of course, increases ;
and while Uie tendency of the feelings to this point
uicreajii^'js the vigor of the mind to effect tlie con-
quest of the habit gradually lessens.

' We woidd tell him (tlie misguided young man)
lliat whatever might be said in newspapers respect-
fug iJie |)0\vrr of medicine in such casi's, nothing
could be done without absolute s<*lf-control ; and
that no metlicine whatever could retrieve the mis-
chiefs which the want of it hml caused: and that
tJie longer the practice was continued, tlie greater
woidd l>e tlie bo<lily and m«Mital evils it would
inevitably occasion.

'We would then advise him to avoid all situa-
tions in which he found his propensities excited ;
and es})ecially, as far as possible, all in which they
had been gratified ; to check the thoughts and
images which exciird them ; to shun thowi asso-
ciates, or at legist that conversation, and those books,
which have llie same effect; to avoid all stimulating
food and li(pior; to sleep cool on a hard l>ed ; to
rise early, and at once ; and to go to bed when likely
to fall asleep at once ; to let his mind be constantly
occupied, though not exerted to excess ; and to let
his bodily powers be actively employed, every day,
to a degree which will make a hard bed the place
of sound repose.

348 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Oilier forms of licentiotisness do not escape punisliment.

' Above all, we would urge him to impress his
mind (at times when the mere thought of it would
not do him harm) with a feeling of horror at the
practice; to dwell upon its sinfulness and most
mjurious effects; and to cultivate, by every pos-
sible means, an habitual sense of the constant pre-
sence of a holy and hean-searching God, and a
lively conviction of the awful effects of his dis-
pleasure.'

I should be sony to leave an impression on any
mind that other forms of licentiousness are inno-
cent, or that they entail no evils on the constitution.
I have endeavored to strike most forcibly, it is true,
at solitary vice; but it was for this plain reason,
that few of the young seem to regard it as any
crime at all. Some even consider it indispensable
to health. This belief I have endeavored to shake ;
with how much success, eternity only can deter-
mine.

Of the guilt of those forms of irregularity, in
which more than one individual and sex are neces-
sarily concerned, many of the young are already
api^rized. At least they are generally acquainted
with the more prominent evils which result from
what they call excess. Still if followed in what
they deem moderation, and with certain precau-
tions which could be named, not a few are ready to
believe, at least in the moment of temptation, that
there is no great harm in following theu* inclina-

tiODS.

DISEASES or LICBIVTIOUSIfESS. 349

Excea. Guilt far short of this. A ^eat mistake made.

Now in regard to what constitutes excess, every
one who is not moved by Christian |»rinciple, will
of necessity, have his o\>ii standard, just as it is in
regard to solitary vice, or the use of ardent spirits.
And herein consists a part of tlie guilu And it is
not till this conviction of our constant tendency to
establish aii incorrect stiuidard for ourselves, and to
go, in tlie end, to the jfreultirt lengths and deptlis
and heights of guilt, can be well established in our
mindn, tliat we shall ever l)e induced to avoid the
firet stejw in that road wiiirh may end in destruc-
tion ; and to lake as liie only place of safety, the
high ground of total abstinence.

But although the young are not wholly destitute
of a sense of the evils of what they call excess,
and of tlie shame of what is well known to be its
frequent and formidable results, — so far as them-
selves are concerned, — yet they ser-in wholly igno-
rant of any considerable danger short of this. For
so far are they from admitting tliat the force of
conscience is weakened by every repeat«'d known
and wilful transgression, many think, (as I have
already staled) promiscuous intercoun«j, where no
matrimonial rights are invaded, if it be so managed
as to exempt the parties immediately concerned
from all immediate suffering both moral and physi-
cal, Ciin scarcely be called a transgression, at all.

I wish it were practicable to extend tliese re-
marks far enough to show, as plain as noon-day
light can make it, that every criminal act of this
30

350 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Painful condition of a parent. Prevention better than cure.

kind — I mean every instance of irregularity — not
only produces evil to society generally, in the pre-
sent generation, but also inflicts evil on those that
follow. For to say nothing of those horrid cases
where the infants of licentious parents not only in-
herit vicious dispositions, but ruined bodies — even
to a degree, that in some instances excludes a
possibility of the child's surviving many days; —
there are other forms of disease often entailed on
the young which as certainly consign the suflTerer
to an early grave, though the passage thither may
be more tedious and lingering.

How must it wring the heart of a feeling young
parent to see his first born child, which for any
thing he knows, might have been possessed of a
sound and vigorous body, like other children, enter
the world with incipient scrofula, diseased joints or
bones, and eruptive diseases, in some of their worst
forms? Must not the sight sink him to the very
dust? And would he not give worlds — had he
worlds to give — to reverse those irrevei'sible but
inscrutable decrees of Heaven, which visit the sins
of parents upon their descendants — ' unto the third
and fourth generation ? '

But how easy is it, by timely reflection, and fixed
moral principle, to prevent much of that disease
which ' worlds ' cannot wholly cure, when it is once
inflicted I

I hazard nothing in saying, then — and I might
appeal to the whole medical profession to sustain

DISEASES or LICENTIOUSNESS. 351

Aeeovery never complete. Fe;uful details. A desirable change.

me ia my assertion — tliat no person whose system
ever suffers, once, from tliose foniis of disejise
which approach nearest to tlie character of special
judgments of Heaven on sin or shame, can he sure
of ever wholly recovering from llieir eflects on his
OWE person ; and what is still worse, can ever be
sure of being the parent of a child whose constitu-
tion shall he wholly untainted with «li>eaj>e, of one
kind or anotiier.

This matter is not often understood by tlie com-
munity generally ; especially by the young. I might
tell tliem of the diseased eyesight ; the ulcerated —
perhaps deformed — nose and ears, and neck; the
discoloration, decay, and loss of teeth ; tlie destruc-
tion of the palate, and the fearful inroads of dis-
ease on many other s<jfi parts of the body ; biisides
the sotlening and ulceration and decay and eventual
destruction of the bones; and to crown all, the
awfully offensive breath and perspiration ; and T
might entreat them to abstain, in the fe.ir (»f (»od,
from tliosc abuses of the constitution which not
unfrcquenily bring down upon tliem such severe
forms of punishment

A thorough knowledge of the human system and
the laws to which all organized bodies are subjected,
would, in this respect, do much in behalf of man-
kind ; for such would be the change of })ublic sen-
timent, that the sensual could not hold up their
heads so l)oldly, as they now do, in the face of it.
liappy f^ir mankind when the vicious shall be

352 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Study of Physiologj'. A caution. The best youthful guides.

obliged, universally, to pass in review before tliis
enlightened tribunal !

Young men ought to study physiology. It is
indeed to be regretted that there are so few books
on this subject adapted to popular use. But in ad-
dition to those recommended at page 34G, there
are portions of several works which may be read
with advantage by the young. Such are some of
the more intelhgible parts of Richerand's Physiolo-
gy, as at page 38 of the edition with Dr. Chapman's
notes ; and of the ' Outlines of Physiology,' and the
* Anatomical Class Book,' two works recently issued
in Boston. It must, however, be confessed, that
none of these works are sufficiently divested of
technicahties, to be well adapted, as a whole, to the
general reader. Physiology is one of those foun-
tains at which it is somewhat dangerous to 'taste,*
unless we 'drink deep ;' on account of the tendency
of superficial knowledge to empiricism. Still, I am
fully of the opinion that even superficial knowledge,
on this long neglected topic, is less dangerous both
to the individual and to the community, than entire
ignorance.

And after all, the best guides would be parents.
When will Heaven confer such favors upon us.'
When will parents become parents indeed ? When
will one father or mother in a hundred, exercise the
true parental prerogative, and point out to those
whom God has given them, as circumstances may
from time to time demand, the most dangerous

DISEASES OF LICENTIOUSNESS. 353

Appeal to the young. F'hysical education neglected.

rocks and whirlpools to whicli, in tlie voyage of
life, tJiey are exjwsed? When will every thing else
be done for tlie youug railier than that which ought
never to be left undone ?

Say not, youn? reader, tliat I am wandering.
You may l)e a father. God grant that if you are,
you may also act the parent. Let me beg you to
resolve, and if necessary re-resolve. And not only
resolve, hut act If you are ready to pronounce
me entliusiastic on this subject, let me beg you to
suspend your judgment till the responsibilities and
the duties and the anxieties of a parent thicken
rouuil you.

Itlfs painful to see — every where — the most un-
questionable evidence that this department of edu-
cation is unheeded. Do you ask how tlie evidence
is obtained ? I answer by asking you how the phy-
sician can discover, — as undoubtedly he can, — the
progress of the drinker of sj)irituous liquorv, by his
eye, his featiu-es, his breath, nay his very j>cn<f)ira-
tion. And do you think that the sons or daugh-
ters of sensuality, in any of its forms, and at any
of its stages, can esiape his observation ?

But of what use is his knowledge, if he may not
communicate it ? What person would endure dis-
closures of this kind respecting hiniselfor his nearest,
perhaps his <learest and most valued friends ? No!
the physician's lips must be sealed, and his tongue
dumb ; and the young must go down to their graves,
rather than permit him to make any effort to save
tliem, lest ofT.-ji' e shf'iild ho «ji\en !

354 1HX Tonife man's guide.

An example for parents. Closing remarks and appeal.

The subject is, however, gaming a hold on the
community, for which none of us can be too thank-
ful. I am acquainted with more than one parent,
who is a parent indeed ; for there is no more reser\'e
on these subjects, than any other. The sons do not
hesitate to ask parental counsel and seek parental
aid, in every known path of temptation. Heaven
grant that such instances may be speedily multi-
plied. A greater work of reform can scarcely be
desired or anticipated.

But I must draw to a close. Oh tliat the young
'were wise,' and that they would 'consider!*
'There is a way which seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof is death.'

There is, then, but one course for the young.
Let them do that which they know to be riglit, and
avoid not only that which they are sure is wrong,
but that also of which they have doubts. Let them
do this, moreover, in the fear and love of Grod. In
the language of a great statesman of the United
States to his nephew, a little before his death, let
me exhort you, to ' Give up propert}', give up every
thing — give up even life itself, rather than presume
to do an immoral ad.^ Let me remuul you too, of
the declaration of that Wisdom which Is Infinite; —
'He that sin>t:th against God, destroyeth
his ow:? soul.'

CUAPTOL VOL

•/

«ra

356 THE YOUiNG MAN's GUIDE.

Siory of Lucius. His mistake. Reflections.

mentioned ; and tliis too in spite of the faithful and
earnest remonstrances of his friends, who foresaw
the consequences. But, like too many inexperi-
enced young men, conscious of his own purity of
intention, he thought there could surely be no harm
in occasional walks and conversations with even a
had man ; and who knows, he sometimes used to
say, hut I may do him good.^ At any rate, as he
was the only person with whom he could hold free
convei-sation on "things that were past," he deter-
mined occasionally to associate with him.

IJut as it is with many a young lady who has set
out with the belief that a reformed rake makes the
best husband, so it was with Lucius; he found that
the work of reforming the vicious was no easy task.
Instead of making the smallest ajiproaches to suc-
cess, he perceived at last, when it was too late, that
his familiarity with young Frederick had not only
greatly lowered him in the estimation of the people
with whom he now resided, but even in the estima-
tion of Frederick himself; who was encouraged to
pursue his vicious course, by the consideration that
it did not exclude him from the society of those
who were universally beloved and respected.

This anecdote shows how cautious we ought to
be in the choice of friends. Had Lucius been a
minister or reformer by profession, he could have
gone among the vicious to reclaim them, with less
danger. The Saviour of mankind ate and drank
with "publicans and sinners;" but He was well

CHOICE OF FRIENDS. 357

Character of friends. Select a email number only.

kncrtcn as going among iheen lo save tlicm, ihoiigh
even he did not wliolly t-scajje oliloqiiy.

Few are aware, how much ihey are the creatures
of imitation : and how readily they catch the man-
ners, habits of oxprt'Stiioi), and even modes of think-
ing, of those whose company they keep. Let the
young remember, then, that it is not from the
remarks of olhers, alone, that they are Ukely to
suffer; but that lliey are really lowered in the scale
of excellence, every time they come in unguarded
contnet with the virions.

It is of the highest im|)ortance to seek for com-
panions those who are not only itiielligent and rir-
tiious^ in the common acceptation of the term, but,
if it were possible, those who are a little above them,
e8|)ecially in moral excdlence.

Nor Is this so difficult a task as many suppose.
There are in every community, a f»'w who would
make valuable companions. Not that they are per-
fect,— for perfection, in the more absolute sense of
the term, belongs not to humanity ; but their char-
acters are such, that they would greatly improve
yours. And remember, that it is by no means in-
de8pen.«»able that your circle of intimate friends be
very large. Nay, it is not even desirable, in a world
like thi.s. You may have many acqtiaintances, but
I should advise you to have but few near friends. If
you have one, who is what he should be, you are
comparatively happy.

358 THE YOUNG man's GUIDE.

What it does not consist in.

Section II. JVaiure of True Friendship.

The nature of true iViendsliip is but little under-
stood, especially by the younJ3^ It is exceedingly
painfid to a susceptible mind to consider how hollow
most of our pretensions to friendship really ai*e.
One may have a thousand intimate acquaintances,
yet not a friend among them all. He that is a
friend will show himself friendly.

Friendship does not consist in mere smiles.
Smile on each other indeed we should. Who is
not made hapi)ier by the smiles — the unaffected
smiles — of those around him r Jf all smiled thus,
we should live in perpetual sunshine.

But who has not heard the old saying, that a
person may smile and smile, and yet be a villain.*'
Much more may he smile and smile on you, and
yet not be your friend. 7'here must be something
more, then, in true friendship than all this.

Good words, added to good looks and a smiling
face, are not sufficient. True it is, most undoubt-
edly, that good words and smiles belong to friend-
ship, or at least that it thrives best under their
influence ; still they are not enough. The world is
full of good words ; nor is it wholly without smiles.

The importance and influence of smiles and good
words are so well kno\vn tliat thousands, and thou-
sands, and thousands, play the hypocrite through
this very medium. No one would succeed in im-
posing on mankind who should approach them, for

HATU&E. or TRUE FRIENDSHIP. 359

What It diK» cxmsist in.

the first time, witli trowns, and harsh and disagree-
able words. Tliey would be repelled rather than
invited.

Nor are the smiling face and the kind voice more
acceptable, when seen to be affected. On lliis
subject we have some excellent remarks from the
poet Cow|)er : —

" The man who hails you Tom or Jack,
And proves by thuDi{>9 upon your back

How ho esteems your mcnt,
Is such a fncnd lint one hod need
Be Tery much hia friend indeed,
To pardon or to bear it."

It will be found, in general, tliat the stranger
who comes to you with strong protestations of
friendship has some design U(>on you. He may
not, it is true, wish to take away from you your life
or your projierty, or tliut whirli is often dearer to
you than ImjiIi — your reputation. Jiut there is
0omc advant^igu nt which he is aiming, to which he
is not entitled, and for which he is not wiUing to
pay the proper price.

He that is a triend, I again say, will show himself
friendly. This is an old but a very true saying.
The only question of dilSculty in the case is, in
what way our friendliness shall be shown.

The iiiblc lest ot' excellence, that a tree is known
by its fruits, is as applicable to friendship as to any-
thing else. True friendship is a matter of deeds,
as well as of looks and words; of action, as well as
of profession.

360 THE TOU.VG MA^n's GUIDE.
^_^ Cliri^r llie laocl;:!.

The truest friendship ever found in this world,
perhaps, was that which subsisted between our
Savior and his immediate followers. He labored
continually for their good. His whole life was a
series of proofs of friendship for them ; which wae
strikingly manifested even amid the last agonies of
the cross.

1 have sometimes thought it possible that the sto-
ries of occasional and remarkable friendship, which
are current among us, — such, for example, as that
of Damon and Pythias, — do quite as much harm as
good, by the tendency which they have to lead us
to look away fi*om the daily walks and conversation
of life, for that which should be found scattered
over all its paths.

0.ur Savior was a friend in all the relations and
conditions of life, and on all occasions. He was the
friend of the young and of the old ; of the healthy
and the sick. He was the friend of body and of
soul. All this he proved himself continually. To
express the same idea in other words, his whole
life was a life of friendship to those within the
range of his influence. He was not only ready to
die for his friends, but to live for them. He was
ready to do — ay, and he did do — both.

The best friends among us, whose friendship is
not formed on the model of the Savior, are exceed-
ingly apt to overlook one another's faults, especially
their smaller faults. We have no evidence that
Damon and Pythias, though so ready to die for
each other, had ever really lived for each other.

NATURE OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP. 361

Friendship of parents.

We have no evidence that they had made it a con-
stant daily, not to say hourly, duty to correct each
other's faults, aiid mend each other's defects, and
improve and exalt, to tlie highest possible degree,
each other's character.

It has sometimes been said that the best rules of
politeness are those of the gospel, and that the
Savior himself was the most truly polite man. In
like maimer, and with equal truth, might it be
affirmed that the goi!j)el rules of friendship are
better than all others, and that the more nearly we
follow its principles, and the example of our Savior,
in all their spirit, the more truly friendly we
shall be.

Perhaps the truest friendship, next to that of the
Savior of mankind, is the friendshij) of a good
parent for his childroii. No one knows, so well as
a parent may know, thf faults of his children ; and
therefore no one, ordinarily, has a better chance to
act the pait of the true friend.

I do not mean to say that all parents are the true
friends of their children. Some are too busy,
either from necessity or choice, to manifest their
friendship, if they feel it Some are too partial to
be able to see the faults of those who are near and
dear to them. A much greater number, however,
are quite ignorant of the nature of true friendship,
ftnd of the duties they owe either to others or to
themselves.

Let me advise those ^vho read these pages to
31

362 THE VOU-NG MA>'S GUIDE.

Frieiiiljhiji of pru'ents.

seek at once the fiiendship of parents. And when
1 say parents, I mean just what I say; I mean both
father and mother. There will, perhaps, be, in tlie
bosom of every child, a deeper sympathy for one
parent than for the other : perhaps it is desirable
that it should be so. Still the friendship of both
should be sought, and with great earnestness. Per-
haps the very parent with whom you least sympathize
may prove, if you seek earnestly that it should be
so, your truest and best friend. There will cer-
tainly be less danger of that blindness to faults
which arises from an overweening partiality.

You may find it, at first, not" a little difficult to
bring your parents into those habits which belong
to true friendship. They may not be willing to
notice your faults — much less to correct them.
But persevere in your attempts, and they will prob-
ably come over at last. The force of education is,
in their case, verj' powerful ; but it is by no means
omnipotent.

I have known a few young persons, who pos-
sessed that most valuable treasure, a truly friendly
parent. I have known sons who could go to a
father, and unbosom their feelings with all the con-
fidence with which the true children of a heavenly
Parent are wont to unbosom themselves in the
closet and in the sanctuar}' ; and who felt, in so
doing, the highest earthly happiness.

I have spoken as if it were difficult for children
to bring over theu* parents to the habit and practice

!«ATUR£ Of TRUE FRIENDSHIP. 363

Friendahip of broihf rs and :iisUT5.

of true friendship. It is not olten, I confess, that
ihe trial upon their feelings is made. Not only is
it ver\' uncommon for the young to seek tliis sort
of friendly iutercommunication with their parents,
but it is almost a thing unknown for tiie young to
be willing to accept their aid, if |>roflered.

What a glorious period in the history of our
world will it be, when parents shall be so trained
as to l»ecome, in ever} respect, the true friends of
tlieir children ; and when the young, having been
early accustomed to enjoy all the blessings of
parental friendship, shall, in their turn, smootli the
pathway of their own children's lives with tlie same
sort of blessing I

For then will it hapi)en that not only parents,
but brothers and sisters too, will be friendly. This
precious cluster from the garden of God will be
tasted by all, in all lifers relations and conditions.
The true brother, indeed, at the present time, like
the true |)arent, is a friend indeed. But the trouble
is, to find either tlie true parent or brother. Then,
however, the true brother and sister, like the true
father or mother, will watcli over and seek the
improvement and ehvation of every other member
of their faujilics respectively, almost as anxiously
as over their own well-being and interests.

This friendly state of things, moreover, begin-
ning in the family, — the fountain whence all the
healthful streams of life flow, — and proceeding to
the world, the great family, shall pervade, and, as
it were, sanctify the whole brotherhood of mankind.

364 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Blessings of true friendship to the world.

It will have a most salutaiy influence even upon
the church. Men, 3'oung and old, will act no
longer like Ishmael, having their hands against
every man, and every man's hands against them ;
but, on the contrary, will embrace, or seek to era-
brace, every man, and woman, and child, that bears
God's holy image, and bring them into the common
bonds of a closer brotherhood.

How often, now, do the young, instead of be-
friending and seeking the friendship of every body,
demean themselves by taking, as far as they may,
the advantage of every body ! I mean, of course,
every body out of their own family. But these
things ought not so to be, nor must they be. The
world must be taught the value of true friendship.

To this work of making known the nature and
the blessings of true friendship, let every young
man who has but a spark of philanthropy or pa-
triotism, or even of enlightened selfishness, at once
consecrate himself Let him fulfil his mission.
Let him do it, moreover, with all his mind, soul,
and strength.

I call upon the young man to do it, because he
is the proper person to call upon. His blood is
warm, and his pulse beats high and strong. He is
less accustomed than 1^ will be thhty or fifty, or
even ten years hence, to a world in which friend-
ship is usually but a name. I will not say he is
more pure or more virtuous, but I will say that he
is more susceptible and less callous.

Much is said, in these days, about the rights,

NATURE OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP. 365

The condition of youn^ men illu.-trat li.

duties, &c., of young men ; and much of it is well
said. But while we hear so much of what they
can do in the scientific, the literary, and the polit-
ical world, it seems to me highly desii'able that we
should hear still more of what they ought to do in
the social, and moral, and religious world. We
forget, frequently, that the physical, intellectual,
scientific, philosophic, and literaiy world was made
for the moral world, and not the latter for all these.
And what those who are older forget or overlook,
it is not to be expected the young will observe or
remember.

Let me repeat the advice, therefore, that you vrill
not seek to conceal your en-ors or faults — or your
crimes, even — from those around you. On the
contrary, as the wounded soldier, in the battle-field,
not only exposes his wounds to the surgeon, but
even encourages him to go to the bottom, and un-
derstand them in all their length and breadth, let
every young man encourage his parents in doing
the same work for his whole nature, that the sur-
geon does for the wounded soldier. No individual,
whose eye meets these pages, has escaped, in the
journey of life, wholly unhurt. Bad habits have
been formed — it may be many. Some of these
are of more, others of less, importance. But all of
them are blemishes ; some of them, imperfections
or frailties ; some of them, it may be, crimes. Be
they what they may, it is ahke your interest and
your duty to get rid of them as fast as possible.
31*

366 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Ends of mntriniouial friendship.

To aid you in the great work is — I repeat it — the
gi'eat and special duty of friendship.

Since I have dwelt, in former chapters, on the
duties of the young with respect to matrimony, it
may be well to add here, that, as one motive to
an honorable, virtuous, and holy alliance, we gain
thereby, or ought to gain, at least, one true friend.
If parents have not been friendly, if brothers and
sisters have not, if brethren in the church have not,
of conjugal life and the conjugal relation there is
still ho])e. Here may, or ought to be, found that
friend which, as Solomon says, " sticketh closer
than a brotlier," — and even closer than a parent;
without wliicli, in truth, the world is but a wilder-
ness.

Well, indeed, that it is so, and tliat this is the
high and heavenly im}Jort of so sacred a union. It
is to bring back to Paradise each revolted hu-
man pair. Marriage has indeed other ends ; but
this is the first. To be prepared to become the
progenitors of a new race, — the inhabitants, so to
speak, of a new world, — we need first to elevate,
and purify, and sanctify ourselves. And unless
wilfully blind, or greatly partial, none can aid so
efficiently in this great work of elevation, purifica-
tion, and sanctification, as the individual for whom
we have left father and mother, and from whose
society, under the arrangement of Heaven, we can-
not, except by death, the king of ten'ors, be lawfully
sundered.

THE YOUNG man's GUIDE. 367

Wearing hats in the house. Its tendency.

Section ID. Rudeness of Manners,

By rudeness I do not mean mere coarseness or
rusticity, for that were more pardonable ; but a
want of civility. In tliis sense of the term, I am
prepared to censure one practice, which in the sec-
tion on Politeness, was overlooked. I refer to the
practice so common with young men in some
circumstances and places, of wearing their hats or
caps iu the house; — a practice which, whenever
and wherever it occui-s, is decidedly reprehensible.

Most of us have probably seen state legislatures
in session with their hats on. This does not look
well for the representatives of the most civil com-
munities in the known world ; and though I do not
pretend that iu this respect they fairly represent
their constituents, yet I do maintain that the tolera-
tion of such a practice implies a dereliction of the
public sentiment

That the practice of uncovering the head, when-
ever we are in the house, tends to promote health,
though true, I do not at this time affirm. It is
sufficient for my present purpose, if I succeed in
showing that the contrary practice tends to vice and
immorality.

Who has not seen the rudeness of a company of
men, assembled perhaps in a bar-room — with their
hats on ; and also witnessed the more decent beha-
vior of another similar group, assembled in similar
circumstances, without perceiving at once a connec

368 RUDENESS OF MANNERS.

Practical questions. Manners in families.

tion between the hats and the rudeness of the one
company, as well as between the more orderly be-
havior and the uncovered heads of the other.'*

To come to individuals. Attend a party or con-
cert— no matter about the name ; — I mean some
place where it is pardonable, or rather deemed par-
donable, to wear the hat. Who behave in the most
gentle, christian manner, — the few who wear their
hats or those who take them ofF.^ In a family or
school, which are the children that are most civil
and well behaved ? Is it not those who are most
scrupulous, always, to appear within the house with
their heads uncovered.? Nay, in going out of
schools, churches, &c., who are they that put on
their hats first, as if it was a work of self-denial to
hold them in their hands, or even suffer them to
remain in their place till the blessing is pronounced,
or till the proper time has arrived for using them ?

Once more. In passing through New England
or any other part of the United States, entering into
the houses of the people, and seeing them just as
they are, who has not been struck with the fact that
where there is the most of wearing hats and caps in
the house, there is generally the most of ill manners,
not to say of vicious habits and conduct.

Few are sufficiently aware of the influence of
what they often affect to despise as little things.
But I have said enough on this point in its proper
place. The great difficulty is in carrying the prin-

THE YOUNG MAX's GUIDE. 369

Egotism. We should Bay little about ourselves.

ciples there inculcated into the various conditions
of life, and properly applying them.

Section IV. Self-praise.

Some persons are such egotists that rather than
not be conspicuous, they will even speak ill of
themselves. This may seem like a contradiction ;
but it is nevertheless a truth.

Such conduct is explicable in two ways. Self
condemnation may be merely an attempt to extort
praise from the bystanders, by leading them to deny
our statements, or defend our conduct. Or, it
may be an attempt to set ourselves off as abounding
in self knowledge ; a kind of knowledge wiiich is
universally admitted to be difficult of attainment.
I have heard people condemn their past conduct in
no measured terms, who would not have borne a
lithe of the same severity of remark from others.
Perhaps it is not too muci) to affirm that persons of
this description are often among the vainest, if not
the proudest of the community.

In general, it is the best way to say as little about
ourselves, our friends, our books, and our circum-
stances as possible. It is soon enough to speak of
ourselves when we are compelled to do it in our
own defence.

370

THE yOU^"G MAN S GUIDE.

A jii::t estimate of ourselves i)rop<'r.

Section V. Self-Esteem.

While, however, we err in attempting to sound
abroad our own praise, we ought not to forget that
egotism is one thing, and a just estimate of our
own worth quite another. The latter is our duty ;
the former, in all ordinary cases, would be a fault,
— to give it a name no worse.

For my own part, 1 do not see how we can well
fulfil our mission in the world where Providence
has placed us, unless we know how to value our-
selves, at least in some good degree. What we
need, perhaps, is to estimate our value as God esti-
mates it ; neither rating it too high nor too low, but
exactly according to truth.

Of course, I am liable, in these remarks, to be
misunderstood. So numerous are the instances in
which men have been led to overvalue themselves,
and not only so, but to proclaim the over-estimate,
that it will be next to impossible, with some, to
make the distinction at which I aim. But surely, I
again say, it is one thing to estimate ourselves too
highly, and quite another to try to palm ourselves
off at a high price to the world.

Not a few have supposed it desirable that the
young should think more meanly of themselves
than the exact truth. They suppose — as is certainly
true — that there is often such a natural forwardness
in the young as should be repressed rather than
encouraged. And for my o^vn part, I do not hesi-

SELF-ESTEEM. 371

Aids in forniini; a just estimate. Avoid extremes.

tate to admit that, if we ought to lean to either side,
it should be to the side of repression and restraint
But I do not see it necessary to depart from the
truth, when we know what the truth is, in either
direction.

It has even been supposed, by some, that Chris-
tianity inculcates a low estimate of ourselves. Now,
there is both truth and falsehood in this opinion.
In the sight of God, we are, indeed, to estimate our-
selves— our value or worth — at a very low price
indeed. But in the sight of men, we are to estimate
ourselves very differently.

B'or we are taught, most distinctly, that we have
Bouis as well as boilios; and that the complex being
formed by the union of both, is, or rather should be,
the temple of the living God. Though allied, —
very closely too, — on one side to worms and reptiles,
we are allied on the other side to angels and arch-
angels, and to Gk)d himself; so that, even in the
sight of God, our value would be immense, were it
not for our manifold transgressions.

But, again, we are commanded to love our neigh-
bor as ourselves. Yet, if we are to think as meanly
of ourselves as some suppose, we cannot love our-
selves— so mean an object as we are — in any
considerable degree. And, then, if our love to our
neighbor is to be graduated by such a narrow love
for ourselves, who cannot see that anything like
neighborly love must be ver\- scarce ?

This is not, of course, the place to discuss knotty

372 THZ Tor:vG ma>"5 gode.

of tkeology, and I am glad ii is col But it
is the pftace — and 1 avail myself of the laTorable
— to sav to yoimg^ m^ of wiialew dae
lanain in igDonmce, kmne htne to tiofaie yovr-

Above all, — and I repeat the sentimeDt. that 1
may not be mkuodefsiood. — do Dot suffer your-
selves to be diseoon^ed from the attempt to know
your own value, by the soeers of those who are
inrifiring that man. especially the ani-
or |rfiTsical pan of him. like the world he lives
in. Is DOC only valueless, but worse than valueless —
ahBolmely ccMitempcible.

If man **■■>*«" ^j or tiie world be lives in. is joaeam,
it is becaoae homao IbUy makes it so : not becaose
God designed iL God made man, origiDally, but a
littie lower than the an^efe : the body but a littie
lower tban tiie soul : the earth but a little lower
tlHB beaven. We come at the soul only by or
ttvoogfa the body: at heaven only by or through
earth. Can the ladder by which we climb to an-
hfaghfg be very coDteoapdUe r Are the Y)odj
the world so very de^Mcable that the sooner
get out of tfaem the better? Nay, is it not much
tbe truth to say that the more we can truly
e»h both, the better ?

I wiH not, indeed, in this plaee, and at this time,
the groond of tbe phrenologisiB, and not onfy
on a ^cuky of setf-esteem, but also on the
of ^evating the soul — so highly ral-

SELF-ESTEEM. 373

Mistake of many with respect to man's nn^anness, physically.

liable — any faster than we elevate the body. But I
will, — for I must, — in the light of that revelation
which God himself has iriven us, insist that the more
the body is elevated, the more the soul can be.

I might dwell a little here on the intrinsic value of
the body, despite of the common notions concerning
it I might, at least, carnt* out the idea hinted at in the
closing chapters of my little work, the Boy's Guide,
(which, though written later, is designed as a prep-
aration for this,) that the excellence of the resurrec-
tion body is to l>ear some definite proportion to
the excellence of the body which we lay down in
the grave ; in other words, that the more we per-
fect the body hero, in oberlience to the law of
Christ, the more glorious it will be after the final
resurrection ; for such considerations, if just,
should be pressed upon the minds of the young,
till they obtain a lodgment.

But what I have said, there and here, may be
sufficient for works not intended to have a charac-
ter strictly religious ; and the consideration of this,
and several other important topics, may properly
be reserved for the higher work which was part-
ly promised in the preface to the fii*st edition
of this volume, and which I have never yet lost
sight of

It is not, however, beyond the scope of the pres-
ent volume to say something of the mistakes which
are so generally made in regard to the body ; for it
18 one thing to take a course, in relation to it, which
32

374 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

Otht-r errors in t;k' csriin:ite n- • ii);ike of mirselve.*.

shdl be calculated to truly elevate it and pei-fect it,
and quite another to pursue a plan which shall
render it less perfect, and even less useful, than it
was before.

He who has an enlightened regard and solid
esteem for the complex being which he calls him-
self, so fearfully and wonderfully made, and for
which such glories are in reserve, both in this
world and that which is to come, will not weaken
the soul by pampering the body, and thus, instead
of elevating either, injure both.

He -will not only escape the common error, that
indulgence is a good, but he will find that it even
weakens body and mind both, and renders both
less perfect, rather than more so. He will learn
that, in order to endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ, he must be early accustomed to
hardness or hardshii). He must believe the di-
vinely-inspired statement, "It is good for us to bear
the yoke in our youth."

The great mistake of young men — the mistake
of mistakes — consists, in short, in a practical belief
that certain things elevate which do not truly ele-
vate them, and that what really degrades them
renders them more estimable.

Not a tew run into the error of esteeming them-
selves in proportion to their dress — 1 mean in pro-
portion to their ability to keep close to the prevail-
ing fashion. But how miserable a self-esteem
must that be which is graduated by such a stand-

SEXK-ESTKEM. 375

The most fatal error of aJI — and bow it originates.

ard ! For wliat has dress to do, directly, with the
man himself?

A considerable numljer esteem themselves on ac-
count of i>ersoiia] aj)pearauce, or beauty. It is not
the female sex alone who idolize beauty of face, or
symmetry of person, or some other accomplish-
ment which l)elonjis to the mere exterior. What
female ever valued externals more than Absalom ?
Let the young cease to value themselves merely
on account of form or comeliness; thouirh I t^till
admit, and even insist, that, were all the laws of God
duly regarded, great iuiprovement in our race would
follow, even in this i)articular.

Greater numbers still of our young men think
their value increased by rank or station. S^trange
it is that, in the most republiean country in the
world, the most importance should be attached to
that which has no intrinsic excellence. For if
" the mind," as Walts says, is " the standard of the
man," then his mistake is most pitiful who sup-
poses that the standard of the man is his office or
badge of distinction or eminence.

But the most fatal error, perhaps, of all, as well
as the most foolish, is that of esteeming ourselves in
proportion to our wealth. Money is idolized in
tliis country to an extent nowhere else known ;
and young men soon learn to worship in the same
way with their fathers, and to value themselves in
proportion to their tact or skill at money-making.
Yet these same young men, and especially tlieir

376 THE YOUNG MAN's GUIDE.

llinu> at the true method of fonniiig a correct estimate.

fathers, have long known that the love of money is
the root of all evil ; and that, with all tlie money of
King Croesus, a man may die superlatively poor.

The trutli, after all, must be continually repeated,
and insisted on, that, in practice at least, the true
way of estimating ourselves is as yet but little
known. We have scarcely begun to recognize the
great truth, that man, in his curious, complex char-
acter, made up of body, mind, and heart, — a trinity
little less mysterious than that of the Divine Being, —
is to be valut'd, and to value himself, chiefly in pro-
portion to his resemblance to that same Divine
Being, from whom he emanated, and in whose
image he was at first created.

APPENDIX.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATEa

We^ Uu People of the i'nited iUatrs, in order to form a
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillUy, provide for the common defence, promote
the general tcelfare, and secure tlie blessings of liberty
to ourselves and uur posterity, do ordain and establish
this Constitution for tin iiiUid iitatts of .Inurica.

AilTlCLE 1.

Sect. 1. — All legislative powcra herein granted
■hall b<; vested in a Congretis of the United States,
which shall constat of a Senate and House of Repre*
•entativcB.

Sect. II. — 1. The Houae of Representatives shall
be compoaed of members chosen every second year, by
the people of the several stales ; and the electors in
each state shall have the qualifications requisite for
electors of the most numerous branch of the state legis-
lature.

2. No person shall bo a representative who shall not
have attamed the age of twenty-five years, and been
•even years a citizen of the United States, and who
•hall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the state in
which he shall be chosen.

3. Representitivcs and direct taxes shall be appor-
tioned among the several states which may be included
within this Union, according to their respective nam«
bers, which shall h% determined by adding to the whole

22'

378 CONSTITUTION OF

number of free persons, including those bound to ser-
vice for a term of years, and excluding Indians not
taxed, three fifths of all other persons. The actual
enumeration shall be made within three years after the
first meeting of tlie Congress of the United States, and
witliin every subsequent term of ten years, in such
manner as they shall by law direct. Tlie number of
representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty
thousand, but each state shall have at least one repre-
sentative; and until such enumeration shall be made,
the state of Aew Hainpsliirc sliall be entitled to choose
three ; Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island and Provi-
dence Plantations , one ; Connecticut, five ; JS'cto York,
six ; J\'cw Jcrsci/, four ; Pennsylvania, eight ; DclawarCy
one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; JVorth Carolina^
five ; Sout/i Carolina, five ; Georgia, three.

4. When vacanciee happen in the representation from
any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue
writs of election to fill such vacancies.

5. The House of Representatives shall choose their
speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power
of impeachment.

Sect. III. — 1. The Senate of the United States
shall be composed of two senators from each state,
chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years ; and
each senator shall have one vote.

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in con-
sequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as
equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the
senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expira-
tion of the second year, of the second class at the expi-
ration of the fourth year, and the third class at the
expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be
chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by
resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the legis-
lature of any state, the executive thereof may make
temporary appointments until the next meeting of the
legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

3. No person shall be a senator who shall not have
attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years a
citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when
elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall
be chosen.

THE UNITED STATES. 379

4. The Vice-President of tlie United States shall be
President of the Senate, but siiall have no vote, unless
they be equally divided.

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers, and
also a president pro tempore in the absence of the Vice-
President, or when he shall exercise the office of Presi-
dent of the United States.

6. The S<*nate shall have the sole power to try all
impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they
shall be on oath or affirmation. When tiie Presi-
dent of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice
shall preside; and no person shall be convict<*d without
the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.

7. Judgment, in cases of inifx-achment, shall not
extend further than to removal from office, and disqual-
ification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or
profit, under tJie Iniled Stati's ; but the party con-
victed shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to in-
dictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according
to law.

Sect. I\'. — 1. The times, places, and manner of
holding elections for senators and repres^'ntatives shall
be prescribed in eacli state, by the legislature thereof;
but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or
alter such regulations, except as to the places of choos-
ing senators.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every
year ; and such me«'ting shall be on the first Monday
m Decemlx^r, unless they shall by law appoint a dif-
ferent day.

Sect. V. — 1. Each hou.se shall be judge of the elec-
tions, returns, and qualifications of its own members ;
and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do
business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day
to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance
of absent meml^ers, in such manner, and under such
penalties, as each house may provide.

2. Each house may determine the rules of its pro-
ceedings, punish its members for disorderly beliavior,
and, with the concurrence of two tliirds, expel a mem-
ber.

3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings,
and from time to time publish the same, excepting such

380 CONSTITUTION OF

parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and
the yeas and nays of the members of either house on
any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those
present, be entered on the journal.

4. Neither house, during the session of Congress,
shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for
more than three days, nor to any other place than that
in which the two houses shall be sitting.

Sect. VI. — 1. The senators and representatives
shall receive a compensation for their services, to be
ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the
United States. They shall, in all cases, except treason,
felony, and breach of the peace, be privileged from
arrest, during their attendance at the session of their
respective houses, and in going to or returning from
the same ; and fur any speech or debate in either house,
they shall not be questioned in any other place.

2. No senator or representative shall, during the
time for which he was elected, be appointed to any
civil ortice under the authority of the United States,
which shall have been created, or the emoluments
whereof shall have been increased, during such time;
and no person holding any oHice under the United
States, shall be a member of cither house, during his
continuance in office.

Sect. VII. — 1. All bills for raising revenue shall
originate in the House of Representatives; but the
Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on
other bills.

2. Every bill, which shall have passed the House of
Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become
a law, be presented to the President of the United
States ; if he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he
shall return it, with his objections, to that house in
which it shall have originated, who shall enter the ob-
jections at large on their journal, and proceed to recon-
sider it. If, after such reconsideration, two thirds of
that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent,
together with the objections, to the other house, and if
approved by two thirds of that house, it shall become a
law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses
shall be determined by yeas and nays ; and the names
of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be

THE UNITED STATES. 381

entered on the journals of each house respectively. If
any bill shall not be returned by tiie President within
ten days (Sundays excepted) atler it shall have been
presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like man-
ner aa if he had signed it, unless Congress, by their
adjournment, prevent its return ; in which case it shall
not be a law.

3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the
concurrence of the Senate and House of Representa-
tives may be necessary, (except on a question of ad-
journment,) shall be presented to the President of the
United States ; and before the same shall tiike effect,
shall be approved by him, or, being disapproved by him,
shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House
of Representatives, according to the rules and limita-
tions prescrilx'd in the case of a bill.

Sect. VHI. — The Congress shall have power —

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and ex-
cises ; to pay the debts and provide for the common
defence and general welfare of the United States ; but
all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform through-
out tlie United States .

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United
Slates :

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and
among the several states, and with the Indian tribes :

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and
uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, through-
out the United States:

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of
foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and meas-
ures :

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting
the securities and current coin of the United States :

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads :

8. To promote the projrress of science and useful
arts, by securing, for limited times, to authors and in-
ventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings
and discoveries :

9. To constitute tribunals interior to the supreme
court :

10. To define and punish piracies and felonies com-

382 CONSTITDTIO.N OF

mitted on the high seas, and offences against the law
of nations :

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and re-
prisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and
water :

1*2. To raise and support armies ; but no appropria-
tion of money to that use sJiall be for a longer term tlian
two years :

13. To provide and maintain a navy :

14. To make rules for the government and regula-
tion of tlie land and naval forces :

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute
the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel
invasions :

16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disci-
plining the militia, and for governing such part of them
as may be employed in the service of the United States,
reserving to the states respectively the appointment of
the officers, and the authority of training the militia,
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress :

17. To exercise exclusive legislation, ' in all cases
whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles
square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the
acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government
of the United States, and to exercise like authority over
all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of
the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of
forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other need-
ful buildings : And,

18. To make all laws whicli shall be necessary and
proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers,
and all other powers vested by this constitution in the
government of the United States, or in any department
or officer thereof.

Sect. IX. — 1. The migration or importation of such
persons as any of the states now existing shall think
proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Con-
gress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and
eight ; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such im-
portation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

2. The priviletje of the writ of habeas corpus shall not
be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or in-
vasion, the public safety may require it.

THE CMTED STATES. 383

3. No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law, shall be
passed.

4. iNo capitation or other direct tax shall bo laid, un-
less in proj><)rtion to the census or enumeration herein
before directed to be taken.

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported
from any state. No preference shall be given, by any
regulation of comuierce or revenue, to the ports of one
Btate over those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to
or from one state be obliged to enter, clear, or pay du-
ties in another.

(j. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but
in consequence of appropriations made by law ; and a
regular statement and account of the receipts and ex-
penditures ul' all public money shall be published from
time to lime.

7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United
States ; and no iR'nion holding any ortice of profit or
trust under them shall, witnout the consent of the Con-
gress, accept of any pn-sent, t-molument, otiice, or title
of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign
state.

Sect. X. — 1. No state shall enter into any treaty,
alliance, or confed«'ration ; grant letters of marque and
reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of credit ; make any
thing but gold and silver coin a tender m payment of
debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or
law impairing the obligation of contracts ; or grant any
title of nobility.

2. No s<tate shall, without the consent of Congress,
lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except
what mav be abs<^)lulely necessary for executing its in-
spection laws ; and the net produce of all duties and
imposts laid bv any state <m imports or exports, shall be
for the use of thf treasury of the United States ; and
all such laws shall be subject to the revision and con-
trol of the Congress. No slate shall, without the con-
sent of Congress, lay any duty on tonnage, keep troops
or ships of war in tune of peace, enter into any agree-
ment or compact with another stite or with a foreign
power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or m
such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

384 CONSTITUTION OF

ARTICLE II.

Sect. I. — 1. The executive power shall be vested
in a President of the United States of America. He
shall hold his office during the term of four years, and,
together wiih the Vice-President, chosen for the same
term, be elected as follows : —

2. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the
legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors,
equal to tiie whole number of senators and representa-
tives to which the state may be entitled in the Congress ;
but no senator, or representative, or person holding an
otHce of trust or profit under the United States, shall
be appointed an elector.

?>. [Superseded. See Amendments, art. 12.]

4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing
the electors, and the day on which they shall give their
votes ; which day shall be the same throughout the
United States.

5. No person, except a natural-born citizen, or a
citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption
of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of
President ; neither shall any person be eligible to that
office, who shall not have attained the age of thirty-five
years, and been fourteen years a resident within the
United States.

6. In case of the removal of the President from office,
or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the
powers and duties of said office, the same shall devolve
on the Vice-President ; and the Congress may by law
provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or
inability, both of the President and Vice-President, de-
claring what officer shall then act as President, and
such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be'
removed, or a President shall be elected.

7. The President shall, at stated times, receive for
his services a compensation which shall neither be in-
creased nor diminished during the period for which he
shall have been elected ; and he shall not receive, with-
m that period, any other emolument from the United
States, or any of them.

THE D.XITED STATES. 385

e. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he
shall take the following oath or affirmation : —

" i do solemnly swear (or affirm) tliat 1 will faith-
fully execute tlie office of President of tlie United States,
and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect,
and defend the constitution of the United States."

Sect. II. — 1. The President shall be commander-
in-chief of the army and navy of tlie United States, and
of the militia of the several states, when called into the
actual service of the United States : he may require the
opinion, in writin;yf, of the principal officer in each of
the executive departments, upon an}' subject relating to
the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have
power to grant reprieves and pardons for otlences
against the United States, except in cases of impeach-
ment.

2. He shall have power, by and witii the advice and
consent of tlie Senate, to make treaties, provided two
thirds of the senators present concur; and he sliall
nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of tiie
Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public minis-
ters and consuls, judws of the supreme court, and all
other officers of the United States, whose appointments
are not herein othcrwi.se provided for, and which shall
be established by law. But the Congress may, by law,
vest th«' appointment of such inferior officers as they
think proper, in the I'ri-sident alone, in the courts of
law, or in the heads of departments.

3. The President shall have power to fill up all va-
cancies that may happen during the recess of the Sen-
ate, by granting commissions, which shall expire at the
end of tiirir next session.

Sect. III. — He shall, from time to time, give to the
Congress information of the state of the Union, and
recommend to tlieir consideration such measures as he
shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on ex-
traordinary occasions, convene both houses, or either
of them, and in case of disagreement between them,
with respect to the time of adjournment, he may ad-
journ them to such time as he shall think proper; he
shall receive ambassadors, and other public ministeis;
he shall tike care that the laws be faithfully executed ;

:33

386 CONSTITUTION OF

and shall commission all the officers of the United
States.

Sect. IV. — The President, Vice-President, and all
civil officers of the United States, shall be removed
from office on impeachment for, and conviction of,
treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemean-
ors.

ARTICLE III.

Sect. I. — Tiie judicial power of the United States
flhall be vested in one supreme court, and in such in-
ferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time,
ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme
and inferior courts, sliall hold their offices during good
beliavior; and shall, at st;ited times, receive for their
services a compensation which shall not be diminished
during th's'ir continuance in ofiice.

Sect. 11. — 1. The judicial power shall extend to all
cases in law and equity arising uiider this. constitution,
the laws of the United Stnt.es, and treaties made, or
which shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases
affi.'cting ambassadors, and other public jninisters,' and
consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdic-
tion ; to controversies to which the United States shall
be a party ; to controversies between two ur more states;
between a state and citizens of another state ; between
citizens of diffi»rent states ; betw^een citizens of the same
state claiming lands under grants of different states ;
and between a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign
states, citizens, or subjects.

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public
ministers, and consuls, and those in which a state shall
be a party, the supreme court shall have original juris-
diction. In all other cases before mentioned, the
supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as
to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such
regulations, as the Congress shall make.

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeach-
ment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in
the state where the said crimes shall have been com-
mitted ; but when not committed within any state, the

THE f.MTED STATES. 387

Irial shall be at such a place or places as the Congress
may by law have dirocti'd.

Sect. III. — 1. Treason against the United States
«hall consist only in levying war against them, or in
adhering to their enemies, giving tiiein aid dnd com-
fort. No person shall be convicted of treason, unless on
the testimony of two witnesses to tlie sajue overt act, or
on confession in open court.

'2. The Congress shall have power to declare the
punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall
work corruption of bl<x)d, or forfeiture, except during
the life of the- jii-rsi.n attainted.

ARTICLE iV.

Sect. I. — Full faith and credit shall be given in each
state to the public acts, n-cords, and judicial proceed-
ings, of evt-ry olhrr slate. And tlie Congress may, by
general laws, prescribe the manner in wliich such acta,
records, and procet-dings, shall be proved, and the etlect
thereof

Skct. II. — 1. The citizens of each state shall be
entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in
the several states.

2. A }>erson ciiarged in any state with treason, felony,
or other crime, who shall fli-e from justice, and be found
in another state, shall, on demand of the executive
authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered
up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the
crime.

3. No person held to service or labor in one state,
under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in
consequence of any law or regulation therein, be dis-
charged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered
up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor
may be due.

Sect. HI. — 1. New states maybe admitted by the
Congress into this Union; but no new state shall be
formed or erectfd within the jurisdiction of an 7 other
state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or
more states, or parts of states, without the consent of

388 CONSTITUTION OF

the legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of
the Congress.

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and
make all needful rules and regulations respecting, the
territory or other property belonging to the United
States ; and nothing in this constitution shall be so
construed as to prejudice any claims of the United
States, or of any particular state.

Sect. IV. — The United States shall guaranty to
every state of this Union a republican form of govern-
ment, and shall protect each of them against invasion,
and, on application of the legislature or of the executive,
(when the legislature cannot be convened,) against
domestic violence.

ARTICLE V.

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses
shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to
this constitution ; or, on the application of the legisla-
tuftjs of two thirds of the several states', shall call a
convention for proposing amendments, which, in either
case, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as part
of this constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of
three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in
three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of
ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided,
that no amendment which may be made prior to the
year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any
manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth
section of the first article; and that no state, without its
consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
senate.

ARTICLE VL

1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered
into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as
valid against the United States, under this constitution,
as under the confederation.

2. This constitution, and the laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and

THE UMTED STATES. 389

all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the
authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law
of the land ; and the judges in every slate shall be
bound thereby, any thing in the constitution or laws of
any state to tlie contrary nutwithstauding.

3. The senators and representatives before mentioned,
and the members of the several state legislatures, and
all executive and judicial oHicers, both of the United
States and of the several states, shall be bound, by oath
or affirmation, to support this constitution ; but no
religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to
any office or public trust under the United States.

ARTICLE VII.

The ratification of the conventions of nine states shall
be sufficient for the establishnjent of this constitution
between the states so ratifying the same.

Done in convention^ by the nnanimoiLs consent of the
states present, the serentccnih day of September, in the
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we
have hereunto subscribed our names.

[Signed by]

GEORGE WASHINGTON,
President, and Deputy from Virginia^
fAnd by the deputies from the other United States.]

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

Art. I. — Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom ot speech, or of the
press ; or the right oi the people peaceably to assemble
and to petition the government for a redress of griev-
ances.

Art. II. — A well-regulated militia being necessary
to the security of a free state, the right of the people to
keep Bind bear arms shall not be infringed.
33'

390 COi\STITUTIOx\ OF

Art. III. — No soldier shall, in time of peace, be
quartered in any house without the consent of the
owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be pre-
scribed by law.

Art. IV. — The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and eft'ects, against unrea-
sonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated;
and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause,
supported by oatli or allirination, and particularly de-
scribing the place to be searched, and the persons or
things to be seized.

Art. V. — No person shall be held to answer for a
capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a pre-
sentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia
when in actual service, in time of war or public danger;
nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be
compelled, in any criminal case, to be witness against
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law ; nor shall private property
be taken for public use without just compensation.

Art. VI. — In all criminal prosecutions, the accused
shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an
impartial jury of the state and district wherein the
crime shall have been committed, which district shall
have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to
be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor;
and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence.

Art. VII. — In suits of common law, where the
value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
right of trial by jury sliall be preserved ; and no fact,
tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any
court of the United States, than according to the rules
of the common law.

Art. VIII. — Excessive bail shall not be required,
nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.

Art. IX. — The enumeration, in the constitution, of
certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or dispar-
age others retained by the people.

THE UMTEI) STATES. 391

Art X. — The powers not delected to the United
States by the constitution, nor proJiibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the
people.

Art. XI. — The judicial power of tlie United States
shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or
equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the
United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens
or subjects of any foreign state.

Art. XII. — 1. The electors shall meet in their re-
spective stales, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-
President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an in-
habitant ol' the same state with themselves ; they shall
name in their ballots the p<'r8on voted for as President,
and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-
President; and they shall make distinct lists of all
persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted
for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for
each ; which lists tliey shall sign and certify, and
transmit st-alcd to the seat of government of the United
States, directed to the President of the Senate. The
President of the Senat'- shall, in the presence of the
Senate and House of Representatives, open all the
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the
person having tlie greatest number of votes for Presi-
dent, shall be President, if such number be a majority
of the whole number of electors appointed ; and if no
person have such majority, then, from the persons hav-
mg the highest number, not exceeding three, on the list
of those voted for as President, the House of Represent-
atives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the Presi-
dent.— But in choosing the President, the votes shall
be taken by states, the representation from each state
having one vole ; a quorum for this purpose shall con-
sist ot a member or members from two thirds of the
states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary
to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall
not choose a President, whenever the right of choice
shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March
next followmg, then the Vice-President shall act as
President, as in the case of the death or other constitu-
tional disability of the President.

2. The person having the greatest number of votes

392 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of electors
appointed ; and if no person have a majority, then from
the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall
choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose
shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of sena-
tors, and a majority of the whole number shall be
necessary to a choice.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the
office of President, shall be eligible to that of Vice-
President of the United States.

Art. XIII. — If any citizen of the United States
shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility
or honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress,
accept or retain any present, pension, office, or emolu-
ment of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king,
prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be
a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of
holding any office of trust or profit under them, or
either of them.

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